Thousands march for "Freedom" in London

On Saturday thousands of protesters marched through London chanting “Freedom”.

At the anti-lockdown protest in November, we saw a zero-tolerance approach from the police and over 150 arrests. This weekend the police took a considerable step back and, after early attempts at preventing the protestors from gathering had failed, allowed the march to continue through the city centre. Breaches to Covid regulation led to over 30 arrests.

Protesters were told to head to central London and mill around until 11:00, when the location would be announced to meet, using the popular messaging app Telegram. This meant the police could not lock down a specific area and prevent protesters from meeting up. As the location was announced, Hyde Park Corner, thousands of people flocked to the park and mixed with the general population. The police attempted to block all exits to the park, but it was difficult to differentiate between protesters and members of the public.

At 12:00, coloured smoke flares were set off, and thousands of protesters emerged from the general public and created a force more significant than the police expected. The police didn’t have the numbers to contain the protest in the park, and the rally moved onto the streets, stopping traffic and unrestricted by the police who followed the protest but did very little to interfere.

Once it was clear that the protest wouldn’t be stopped, the City Police moved ahead of the march to stop traffic. On asking a police officer when they would stop the rally, he replied, “when the protesters want to stop, I am here to make sure they are safe”. And this is the vibe many of the officers gave off on the day.

The protest, now numbering thousands, marched East from Hyde Park, down Oxford Street, carrying on until Cornhill, before turning back towards Parliament. It remained peaceful, and by the time the protest arrived at Trafalgar Square at around 16:00, they had marched over 15km.
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The police in London resisted using force and allowed the protest to proceed peacefully. As the government looks to push through a bill restricting peaceful demonstrations, it is essential to acknowledge that there will only be a rise in violent protests and riots.