3 Min Read Business News March 19, 2020 / 2:16 AM /
MADRID (Reuters) - Banging pots and pans from their balconies, thousands of Spaniards under lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic nearly drowned out King Felipe’s broadcast address to the nation on Wednesday in protest over a scandal involving his father.
People bang on saucepans with spoons on their balconies demanding from former King Juan Carlos to donate 100 million dollars, he allegedly received from Saudi Arabia's late king, to the Spanish health system currently struggling to combat coronavirus, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) health emergency in Madrid, Spain, March 18, 2020. REUTERS/Juan Medina
Repeating an earlier protest at noon, people in central Madrid, summoned by a call on social media, demanded that former King Juan Carlos donate millions he had reportedly received from Saudi Arabia to the struggling health system.
“The applause is for those who take care of us. The pans are for the corruption money to go to our health system,” leftist movement Mas Pais said in a tweet.
Spaniards have also been coming to their balconies to cheer health workers during the lockdown in Europe’s second worst-hit country by the virus after Italy. They have been confined to their homes since Saturday for all but essential outings.
Even in the traditionally conservative neighbourhoods of Madrid the noise of the banging of pots and pans was deafening, nearly silencing Felipe’s uplifting words urging Spaniards to beat the epidemic together.
“Now we must put aside our differences. We must unite around the same objective: to overcome this serious situation. And we have to do it together ... with serenity and confidence, but also with determination and energy,” Felipe said.
It was his first extraordinary address to the nation since 2017, at the height of a constitutional crisis caused by a short-lived declaration of independence by Catalan separatists.
On Wednesday night, the sound of pots and pans rang, too, in the streets of Barcelona, where the protest had been called by separatist parties.
King Felipe said on Sunday he had renounced his inheritance from his father, former King Juan Carlos, and stripped the ex-monarch of his palace allowance.
A Swiss newspaper has reported that while he was king, Juan Carlos accepted $100 million from Saudi Arabia. Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014 after nearly 40 years on the throne, has not commented on the report.
PROTESTERS gathered outside Vancouver's City Hall yesterday, appearing to flout lockdown rules and slam the quarantine as "martial law".
Footage from the apparent protest shows a small group of people brandishing posters, one emblazoned with the words "fake news".
⚠ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates
Dan Dicks pictured with protesters - who don't appear to be social distancing
In the video, shot and shared by Dan Dicks of Press for Truth - described as an "alternative media outlet" - Dicks says the group have already been approached by one man who acted violently and allegedly tried to break a protester's camera.
Similar outrage has been seen online, with some Twitter users branding them "#COVIDIOTS".
Speaking to the protesters, Mr Dicks urges people not to "drink the Kool-Aid" and praises the group for not being " whipped into the fear state by the government".
Speaking to Sun Online the Press for Truth founder said he was in attendance to document the event "as a reporter".
One man brands the virus "overblown," another claims the pandemic is a "b***s*** lie".
Mr Dicks adds that he is planning to speak to David Icke in the coming days, a former footballer and conspiracy theorist, who in a recent YouTube live stream claimed 5G towers and coronavirus are connected.
He said: "If 5G continues and reaches where they want to take it, human life as we know it is over... so people have to make a decision."
It comes following a number of 5G masts being burned down with calls for more to also be destroyed in the aftermath following Icke's interview.
In a Facebook post from someone who appeared to be in attendance at the protest 5G theories are mentioned several times and conspiracy videos shared to the comments, although Mr Dicks' video doesn't cover that particular theory.
In an interview with social justice campaigner Susan Stanfield, who Dicks says helped to organise the protest, Ms Stanfield says the lockdown is "destroying the economy".
She also designed a yellow "no more lockdowns" poster calling for global protests.
Susan tells the reporter: "For me, I'm here to end the economic lockdown, we're all suffering financially and it has to end."
She adds she plans to take legal action against the government of British Columbia for economic fallout due to the lockdown, telling viewers: "Someone has to take responsibility for what has happened to the economy".
One man can be seen at the protest donning a surgical mask and holding a poster claiming: "Stupid-20 is 1000 xs more dangerous than Convid-19."
When asked about the number of people dying from the virus, one protester says: "People die every day".
Dan Dicks adds a clarification that "people die with coronavirus, not of coronavirus".
He adds: "They're clearly fudging the numbers".
Another woman asked why she's there tells him: "It's dumb to be an inside cat."
The protest comes as a number of bizarre conspiracy theories sweep the globe amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Some online crackpots have claimed the virus is the work of the US military, while others allege the outbreak is a "hoax" designed to stop Brexit.
Experts across the globe have blasted the spread of such theories, which threaten to "incite violence" among panicking citizens.
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"Conspiracy theories can be very harmful for society," researchers Daniel Jolley, of Northumbria University, and Pia Lamberty, of Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, wrote in The Conversation last week.
"Not only can they influence people's health choices, they can interfere with how different groups relate to each other.
FRENCH security forces were out in force in Paris on Saturday as anti-government "Yellow Vest" protesters defied President Emmanuel Macron's ban on mass gatherings aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus.
By Ciaran McGrath
PUBLISHED: 12:31, Sat, Mar 14, 2020 | UPDATED: 17:30, Sat, Mar 14, 2020
Coronavirus: Yellow vest protesters defy mass gathering ban
In a televised address to the nation on Thursday, Mr Macron announced school closures and told people to avoid close contact for fear of spreading the illnes, which has killed 79 people in France and infected more than 3,600. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner on Friday said all gatherings with more than 100 people had been banned. Paris police had already turned down requests for protesters to demonstrate at sensitive sites this Saturday, including the Champs Elysees where violent clashes broke out between security forces and protesters almost a year ago to the day.
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It's Saturday, demonstration day. Some people think that the coronavirus won't touch them and refuse to respect the advice
Riot police officer
A riot police officer in front of a heavily armed vehicle blocking the road leading to the presidential palace said: "It's Saturday, demonstration day. Some people think that the coronavirus won't touch them and refuse to respect the advice."
The government published an official decree on Saturday banning all non-essential gatherings, but hundreds of protesters, some wearing protective masks, began convening outside the Montparnasse train station, chanting anti-Macron slogans.
The yellow vests, named after the high-visibility jackets they wear, were holding a 70th consecutive Saturday of action.
Yellow Vests Paris
A motorcycle goes up in flames (Image: Charles Baudry)
Firefighter
A firefighter tackles the blaze (Image: Charles Baudry)
The movement emerged late in 2018, triggered by fuel tax rises, and swelled into a revolt against Macron's government.
While protests are now much smaller, anger at Macron's government remains.
Saturday's demonstration serves as a remainder to the President a day before voters are set to go to the polls in local elections.
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Yellow Vests Paris
Thousands of Yellow Vest protesters have defied Emmanuel Macron's ban (Image: Ruptly)
Yellow Vests Paris
The protests on the streets of Paris today (Image: Ruptly)
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The elections are an important test for the former investment banker with opponents now particularly angered by his plans to reform the French pensions system.
His En Marche party is not expected to do well.
One pensioner said: "We had to come and mark the day to tell Macron that we're still here and that we won't accept his pension reform."
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Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Macron spoke to the nation on Thursday (Image: PA)
Voters will begin choosing mayors for 35,000 town halls and almost half a million councillors on Sunday, overshadowed by the coronavirus outbreak which is expected to hit turnout at the vote, which is usually relatively high.
Macron decided to go ahead with the elections despite the virus concerns, which have led the government to shut schools and universities, suspend major sporting events, curtail public transport and close tourism attractions.
Disneyland Paris became the latest casualty on Saturday closing its doors until the end of March.
Yellow Vests Paris
Yellow Vest protesters last weekend (Image: GETTY)
Speaking in a live televised address on Thursday, Mr Macron said:
“This epidemic is the most grave public health crisis that France has known in a century.
“Despite the efforts to slow it down, the virus continues to spread and is accelerating.”
Tensions bubble over at Sea Mountain estate in Yingcheng after man is detained for providing alternative to government-sanctioned suppliers
People tired of having to pay inflated prices for food and other essential items, resident says
Kristin Huang
After weeks of quietly accepting a government-enforced lockdown, the patience of some residents of a Chinese city close to the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak
finally ran out on Thursday, as they gathered to protest against the high prices they say they are being forced to pay for their groceries.
For the past several weeks, the supply of food to the tens of millions of people forced to live in isolation across Hubei province has been carefully controlled by local government agencies.
But many residents of Yingcheng, a city of 600,000 people about an hour’s drive from Wuhan, considered the goods on offer to be overpriced. So when a man was detained by the police for providing the same products at lower prices, they decided enough was enough.
According to a post on social media by the city government’s Covid-19 emergency command centre, the protest began at about 7.30pm at the Sea Mountain residential complex, which is home to about 8,000 people.
Defying the terms of the lockdown, hundreds of residents gathered on a basketball court within the compound to vent their anger. They dispersed only after local government officials and police arrived at the scene.
The demonstration was sparked by the detention of a Sea Mountain resident surnamed Cheng, who used his personal connections to supply his neighbours with groceries, The Beijing News reported on Friday.
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He was detained on the charge of “unlicensed sales” but released after about an hour, the report said.
Another resident, identified only as Zhou, said people were fed up at having to pay inflated prices for food and other essential items.
The situation had been going on for over a month, she said, adding that some of the vegetables provided through the official channels were old and no longer edible.
“We were so angry that we’d been deprived of choice, of access to cheaper and better products,” she said.
In a statement released on Friday, the city government promised to increase the number of supply channels and subsidise suppliers so they could offer lower prices.
It said it would also set up a task force to transport daily necessities directly from production bases to designated shops.
An official surnamed Liu from the government of Xiaogan, which administers Yingcheng, said that in prioritising the lockdown, the needs of residents had been overlooked.
“We know there are some problems with higher prices and disqualified products, and the Xiaogan government has taken measures to tackle that,” he said.
According to local media reports, authorities in Xiaogan last week fined several designated suppliers for overcharging for their goods.
Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan was heckled by residents during her visit to Wuhan. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan was heckled by residents during her visit to Wuhan. Photo: Xinhua
Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, said the China’s centralised control system meant that the “party-state seeks to control everything, including the supply and pricing of food but it cannot do so as effectively as it would like and profiteering by some led to unintended consequences”.
Tsang also said the protest appeared to be simply “against an injustice that most cannot afford”.
“With the government saying that China is now on top with the virus, people are behaving more normally and thus refuse to tolerate the apparent profiteering.
“When one’s income has been significantly affected by the lockdown and prices go up substantially, people just can’t afford not to find alternatives. And when this is met by police action, people get angry and upset. Normal human behaviour, which should be predictable.”
Peng Peng, vice-president of the Guangdong System Reform Research Society, a think tank, said local governments had to improve the support they gave to communities most affected by the coronavirus epidemic.
“Hospitals and communities are on the front line in the fight against the outbreak and their needs should not be neglected,” he said, adding that local authorities should seek to relax their controls on people’s movements as the health crisis eased.
The protest in Yingcheng came less than a week after Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan was heckled by residents during a visit to Wuhan on March 6.
As the state councillor walked through the grounds of the Kaiyuan Gongguan estate, people yelled from the windows of their high-rise homes that “it’s all fake
”.
#Coronavirus #Covid19 #Michigan BREAKING: Thousands Protesting Lockdown at Michigan State Capitol (Part 2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Knqqs-7Vo _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Alexander Marrow, Maria Tsvetkova
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Hundreds of people protested against regional authorities in southern Russia on Monday over what they said were restrictive and unnecessary coronavirus measures, state-owned TV and demonstrators said.
The forced closure of businesses across Russia and the imposition of strict self-isolation measures has caused economic pain to many households, particularly in Russia’s regions, where salaries are lower and the virus less entrenched.
Russia has reported 47,121 cases of the coronavirus so far, but the Republic of North Ossetia in southern Russia, where Monday’s protest took place, has officially registered only 145 cases and two deaths.
Vyacheslav Bitarov, the head of the republic, addressed protesters in the regional capital, Vladikavkaz. Video footage showed hundreds of protesters packed tightly into a square, with police officers in riot gear looking on.
None of the protesters, some of whom were detained according to local media reports, appeared to be wearing masks.
One protester, Vadim Cheldiev, set out his demands in a post on his Telegram channel of around 10,000 subscribers. They included the resignation of the regional government and head of the republic and new elections.
“Today, under the pretext of the coronavirus, which doesn’t exist, people are driven into slavery, they are trying to establish total control over us all,” said Cheldiev in a video.
The Rossiya Alania TV channel’s website described the protests as “unauthorised action.”
“Many employees of the Interior Ministry and Rosgvardiya (Russia’s National Guard) are around. The OMON (riot police) cordoned off the government building.”
The Kremlin has given regional governors wide leeway to take their own measures to try to halt the spread of the virus.
In Moscow and other cities, some users of internet giant Yandex’s Navigator mobile application posted complaints to authorities by using the same system usually used to mark traffic incidents, tagging locations near the Kremlin.
“My business has burned because of you!” read one anonymous post.
Another said: “There is nothing to feed children!!”
Additional reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Andrew Osborn
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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In the United States, pockets of protest have erupted in state capitals, with demonstrators demanding an end to the lockdown.
Emboldened by remarks by Donald Trump, the US president, protesters have gathered outside state capitol buildings and governor's offices from Michigan to California to call for a return to normal life.
On Tuesday, medics and protesters came face to face in Denver. In incredible scenes which illustrate a growing rift in the US, the demonstrators were met by the medics wearing green scrubs and facemasks, who were there, they said, as a “reminder” of why the measures are in place.
America is the country worst affected by coronavirus worldwide, with 799,515 cases and 42,897 deaths reported.... _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Issued on: 25/04/2020 - 22:12
Police remove a demonstrator during he anti-confinement protest in Berlin
German police arrested dozens of protesters in Berlin on Saturday for flouting the coronavirus lockdown measures they were demonstrating against.
About 1,000 people turned out for the rally, which has become a weekly event in the German capital.
Saturday's protest attracted mainly far-left activists but there were also right-wing supporters and members of other fringe groups.
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Police put up barriers around Rosa Luxemburg square, where the protesters were headed, leaving the participants to gather in nearby roads.
The protest "is not in line with the rules" in place to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, police said on Twitter, telling those taking part to disperse.
Some of the demonstrators wore T-shirts accusing Chancellor Angela Merkel of "banning life" while others simply called for "freedom".
Others brandished placards bearing slogans such as "Stop the pharmaceutical lobby".
The protest was unauthorised as a result of emergency rules in Berlin banning gatherings of more than 20 people.
The protest organisers' website called for "an end to the state of emergency" and played down the threat posed by the virus.
Public discontent with the confinement rules has been growing gradually in Germany, as in other countries, though Merkel's popularity remains high.
She has received plaudits for her management of the health crisis which has seen Germany's COVID-19 toll -- 5,500 according to an AFP tally -- remain significantly lower than in Italy, Spain, France and Britain where the death tolls have all risen above 20,000.
Opposition to the lockdown measures is being led by the far-right, the main opposition force in the German parliament.
Protesters frustrated with ongoing shelter-in-place restrictions in California due to the novel coronavirus pandemic gathered across the state to give Gov. Gavin Newsom a piece of their mind.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Protesters frustrated with ongoing shelter-in-place restrictions in California due to the novel coronavirus pandemic are gathering in at least 11 cities around the state to give Gov. Gavin Newsom a piece of their mind.
RELATED: Gov. Gavin Newsom says California may be 'days, not weeks' from further reopening
Starting at noon Friday, thousands of people gathered outside the State Capitol in Sacramento. Many of them could be seen standing closely together, not wearing masks or face coverings. They cheered and waved American flags as speakers chanted through megaphones.
Another such protest was planned at San Francisco City Hall. The group was planning to create a "gridlock loop" of cars on the streets surrounding City Hall and to have a walking protest out front.
Despite their urges to reopen California as quickly as possible, organizers seem to at least acknowledge there's a health risk (not to mention a violation of the law) in gathering a bunch of people together in close proximity. The group's website instructs protesters to stand at least six feet apart from each other, per CDC guidelines.
RELATED: San Francisco attorney files several lawsuits against Gov. Newsom's shelter-in-place order
The group also urged attendees to create poster board signs with a "variety of verbiage." (Suggestions include "FREEDOM WE THE PEOPLE," "OPEN OUR CHURCHES," "The shutdown is killing us" and "Practice Media Distancing.") Not sure what to chant? They have suggestions for that, too: "Open our state now" and "Back to school."
Gov. Newsom has repeatedly said he's feeling the pressure to reopen the state more quickly, but is leaning on scientific data to decide on timing. "Politics will not drive our decision making. Protests will not drive our decision making. Political pressure will not drive our decision making," the governor said.
Red, white and blue attire is preferred, but not required.
Protesters were also planning to gather in San Diego and Los Angeles, all at the same time as Gov. Newsom's daily noon briefing on novel coronavirus.
"The rights of people are being suspended and the constitution trampled on and that's the biggest problem we have at this time," says Vivienne Reign who is a business owner helping to organize the Sacramento rally Friday.
RELATED: U.S. essential workers hold May Day strike, demand time off, hazard pay
While some of the local "Reopen California" Facebook groups have thousands of members, opposition to the rallies is also high on social media. Christopher Martin writes, "Too early, too soon. STAY HOME."
"There's always going to be those that are a little selfish and think about themselves first," says San Francisco resident Eric Westcott.
RELATED: Humboldt sheriff says governor's beach closure would violate constitutional rights
"All of us at some point in the day end up going out a little bit selfish to overdo that because not only are you at risk you are putting others at risk," says Neeharika Vinod.
Gov. Newsom has repeatedly said he's feeling the pressure to reopen the state more quickly, but is leaning on scientific data to decide on timing.
HUNDREDS of people have gathered in London's Hyde Park for a protest against the coronavirus lockdown.
By BRIAN MCGLEENON
PUBLISHED: 13:20, Sat, May 16, 2020 | UPDATED: 14:40, Sat, May 16, 2020
Huge crowds, with many carrying banners condemning Boris Johnson's lockdown, have gathered in the major London park. One protestor carried a sign including the slogan 'no to the new abnormal'. Reports suggest the lockdown protest crowd numbers around three dozen.
The gathering protestors were standing close together near Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park.
Many held placards and banners explaining why they had come out to demonstrate.
The slogans included words such as "freedom over fear".
Mounted police surrounded the protestors and looked on.
Finance worker David Samson, 50, told the PA news agency he came because "I never thought I'd see in my generation the suppressing of civil rights" over a "fake virus".
One protestor was taken away in handcuffs, the gathered people then began booing the police.
The person being led away was Piers Corbyn, brother of ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
He was taken away after declining to leave when asked by a police officer and declining to give his details when asked.
He had brought a megaphone to Hyde Park corner and began proclaiming that 5G and the coronavirus pandemic were linked, calling it a "pack of lies to brainwash you and keep you in order".
Hyde Park: Police on scene as protesters flout lockdown rules
Play Video
Protestors at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park
Protestors at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park (Image: PA)
One protester, Dee, who did not wish to give her surname, said her job in the hair and beauty industry had been hit by the crisis.
Speaking to PA she said: “I am here because I am worried about civil liberties being taken away.
“Reading the coronavirus act that has gone through Parliament it seems there are changes being made which infringe our freedom.
“And I am worried the media has run away with the Covid-19 thing and blown it all out of proportion.
“People are still believing the mainstream media where the actual figures being put out explain it all that the risk of dying from Covid-19 are so tiny.”
Jeremy Corbyn’s brother arrested at Hyde Park lockdown protest
Play Video
On Friday police said they were committed to thwarting any attempt to break lockdown restrictions through planned protests and demonstrations.
Many social media accounts announced anti-lockdown protests would occur this weekend.
Flyers for around 60 protests to be held in parks in cities such as Manchester, Leicester, and Southampton have circulated online, produced by the little-known “UK Freedom Movement” which aims to say “no to the new normal and no to the unlawful lockdown”.
Police and local residents in a standoff (picture-alliance/dpa/S. Rampfel)
Around 120 people are thought to be infected at the block of apartments in the city of Göttingen. Angry at being kept inside, residents threw stones, tires and a computer, before being forced back with tear gas.
Clashes broke out on Saturday between police and residents of a housing complex in the central German city of Göttingen, leaving several officers injured, local police said.
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Around 120 people from the large block of flats are thought to be infected with the novel coronavirus, prompting officials on Thursday to order all 700 residents into a fresh localized lockdown.
The disturbances broke out around midday on Saturday, according to the spokesperson for the police in the state of Lower Saxony.
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Coronavirus Göttingen gesperrter Wohnkomplex
Some residents stood on window ledges and watched the scene unfold
The official added that angry residents threw stones, tires and a computer at police out of windows of the complex. They also set objects on fire.
Several residents then attempted to break down the fence that had been erected by city authorities.
Police used tear gas to force back the angry residents, according to the Hessische Niedersächsische Allgemeine (HNA) newspaper, citing eyewitnesses.
A blank was also fired from a pistol inside the complex, known as Groner Landstrasse, according to HNA.
One month lockdown
The entire complex has now been ordered to remain in lockdown until June 25.
City officials stipulated that the residents must remain inside to prevent further spread of the virus. The decision has been denounced by politicians and residents because of the state of the run-down complex.
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01:28 mins.
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New outbreak leads to reimposed restrictions
"People live in the most adverse conditions in this building. The conditions in the dwelling have been known for years," Green party politician Thomas Harms was cited as saying by HNA.
More than 200 children and teenagers are housed in precarious conditions there, reported the news agency dpa, citing Göttingen authorities.
The city began follow-up testing on Saturday afternoon of residents who initially tested negative for the virus, according to a city representative.
The outbreak is one of several to hit large German housing complexes.
DW reported on a virus cluster that broke out in May in the Iduna housing complex, also located outside Göttingen's city center – just over a kilometer from the latest outbreak _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Twenty-two officers have been injured and police cars smashed up during “significant disorder” following an illegal street party in Brixton overnight.
This cannot be acceptable behaviour in 21st century Britain
Footage on social media showed a line of police retreating from crowds of people running at them with makeshift weapons on Overton Road near the Angell Town estate in Brixton.
Police said they were called by concerned residents to the illegal street party but were met by a “hostile” crowd.
15 police officers were injured during the confrontation with those at a street party
Police were called to Overton Road after reports of an unlicensed music event and were attacked as they attempted to disperse the crowd.
Video of the chaos also showed bottles being thrown at officers as they were chased from the area and the Prime Minister has condemned the “appalling scenes”.
Two young men could be seen stomping on the bonnet and windshield of a Met Police vehicle as bystanders cheered them on.
Another man is seen brandishing an improvised weapon in front of a line of riot police as he shouts at them to “back up”.
In another clip, one member of the public can be seen bleeding from the face.
One woman said: “They’ve finished the car. My Lord the police have abandoned their own car.”
While another shocked onlooker said repeatedly: “The police are getting run out of here.”
One woman who witnessed the scene condemned it as “disgusting and sickening” in light of current lockdown rules.
She tweeted: “They are out of control and you want to continue to ease lockdown? How were they allowed to have a BLOCK PARTY that had hundreds of people and it didn’t get locked off?”
Four people have been arrested for assault and public order offences and remain in police custody.
Officers in riot gear attended the scene but were forced away as the crowd goaded them and hurled missiles.
Police have been involved in clashes with protesters on occasions during the past month, including during a far-right rally outside Parliament and to a lesser extent at Black Lives Matter demonstrations around the capital.
“Our officers work incredibly hard to engage and explain the public health message and regulations to prevent such gatherings occurring,” Basic Command Unit Commander Colin Wingrove said in a police statement on Thursday. “The violence shown towards officers is totally unacceptable and we will not tolerate it in any form.”
One officer said his team had been hit by bottles and missiles and subsequently made a tactical withdraw from the area.
He added: “Everyone of us wanted to kit up and go back in , due to injured officers unable to do so. Proud of all officers there last night. Very Hostile crowd.”
In total, 22 officers were hurt, with two requiring hospital treatment for non-serious injuries.
BCU Commander Colin Wingrove, said:“Our role is to protect the public and ensure guidelines are adhered to in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 protecting the NHS and save lives.
“Last night we received numerous concerns from residents complaining about a large gathering, noise, anti-social behaviour and violence and officers responded to those concerns.
“These gatherings are unlawful, as well as posing a risk to public health and against coronavirus restrictions.
“The violence shown towards officers is totally unacceptable and we will not tolerate it in any form.
“An investigation into the incident is now taking place and those involved will be brought to justice.”
London mayor Sadiq Khan said: “I’m in touch with the Met about the completely unacceptable events in #Brixton overnight.
“Violence against the police will not be tolerated.
“Large gatherings during Covid-19 are deeply irresponsible and risk others’ lives.”
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “These are appalling scenes, violence against police will not be tolerated.
“Anyone who assaults the police or any emergency worker should feel the full force of the law.
View 25 comments Sam Courtney-GuyMonday 20 Jul 2020 5:39 pm Share this article via facebookShare this article via twitterShare this article via messenger 721 SHARES Disruption to medical treatments is set to cause more than 180,000 extra deaths (Picture: Official government estimates indicate more than 200,000 people could die as a result of lockdown and Covid’s impact on the NHS, it has been reported. Forecasts made in April calculated that 12,000 to 25,000 people could die from delays to treatment in the first six months of the pandemic, with another 185,000 deaths in the medium-to-long term. Meanwhile it warned there could be 500 extra suicides during the first wave of coronavirus cases, and between 600 and 12,000 additional deaths per year in the event of a severe recession. The estimates included in a report whose existence was revealed by Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance only last week, and disclosed by The Daily Telegraph on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT Top articles by Metro London road closed for 11 hours after ammunition fell off police vehicle roof READ MORE SKIP AD The estimates were put together by the Department of Health, Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Home Office and the government’s Actuary Department in an effort to quantify the collateral damage of the government’s response to the virus. Visit our live blog for the latest updates: Coronavirus news live Appearing before Parliament’s science and technology committee, Sir Patrick said there was ‘a risk’ that a second lockdown could be required around winter-time. But Boris Johnson later played down the chances of restrictions being brought in nationwide, stressing the advances officials have made in isolating local outbreaks. He told the newspaper on Sunday: ‘I can’t abandon that tool any more than I would abandon a nuclear deterrent. But it is like a nuclear deterrent, I certainly don’t want to use it. And nor do I think we will be in that position again.’ Sir Patrick revealed the report’s existence at a hearing with MPs on Thursday (Picture: PA) The report also forecast about 20 extra deaths this year due to domestic violence, and an increase in accidents at home by ‘a few tens’. Its estimates assumed 75 per cent of elective treatments would be cancelled over six months and would not be significantly reordered by priority afterwards, which appears increasingly unlikely. However there are more than 3.8 million people on the waiting list for elective care as of May, according to NHS figures published on Thursday. The figure fell by 100,000 from April but this has been widely put down to a drop in the number of people being referred for testing and treatment during the pandemic. Doctors have said many vulnerable patients in need of care have avoided checking into hospital or seeing their GP for fear of catching the virus. Data analysis published in April by UCL experts found urgent referrals for suspected cancer had dropped by an average of 76 per cent since lockdown. Data suggests people who need hospital treatment are reluctant to get help (Picture: AFP) Last week Oxford University researchers revealed that 5,000 fewer heart attack patients were admitted to hospital between March and May. As hospitals continue to operate at limited capacity this number could soar to 10 million by the end of the year, according to the NHS Confederation. Experts have warned against attributing the economic downturn entirely to the lockdown rather than to the virus itself. Many pointed to the example of Sweden, which brought in light restrictions in place of a full lockdown and has suffered significantly more deaths than neighbouring country to little economic advantage. Writing in The Guardian in June, Oxford economics profession Simon Wren-Lewis said: ‘If there had been no lockdown, and the epidemic had run its course unhindered, we would have seen a fall in output of similar size.
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Hundreds of illegal raves shut down as police pelted with bottles as 22 officers hurt
Scotland Yard have vowed to continue to shut down the "dangerous" unlicensed music events and seize sound systems to tackle the surge in street parties since Covid-19 lockdown measures have been eased
By Henry Vaughan 19:16, 25 JUL 2020UPDATED19:19, 25 JUL 2020
Dramatic footage shows police pelted with bottles as they shut down dozens of illegal raves
Footage shows Met Police being pelted with bottles as they attempted to shut down a number of illegal raves
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DRAMATIC FOOTAGE SHOWS POLICE PELTED WITH BOTTLES AS THEY SHUT DOWN ILLEGAL RAVES
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Police were pelted with bottles at an illegal rave on an estate as the capital is swamped by illicit parties.
More than 500 illegal raves have been organised across London in the past month, police have revealed, amid fears of further disorder this weekend.
Scotland Yard have vowed to continue to shut down the "dangerous" unlicensed music events and seize sound systems to tackle the surge in street parties since Covid-19 lockdown measures have been eased.
The force released body-worn footage on Friday showing officers being pelted with bottles and other objects at an illegal rave at an estate in Brixton, south London, on June 25.
Voices can be heard shouting "hold the line" and "missiles, missiles" at the street party, where police vehicles were smashed and 22 officers injured.
The chaos was caught on bodycam
The chaos was caught on bodycam (Image: Met Police)
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The Metropolitan Police said information about more than 530 events across the capital has been received since the Brixton rave, with police responding to 23 a day.
Some 86 separate incidents were reported last Saturday alone, including an illegal rave at an estate in Finsbury Park, north London, where objects were again thrown at officers trying to disperse crowds.
Commander Ade Adelekan said: "There can be doubt that unlicensed music events are dangerous and highly disruptive for local communities.
Police were called in to break up the rave
Police were called in to break up the rave (Image: Met Police)
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Traffic warden covered in plaster after furious motorist throws it over her head
"Communities caught in the middle of an event have a miserable time, with large crowds turning up at their estate and playing loud music and consuming alcohol, and at times, drugs and causing damage.
"The fear they create is totally unacceptable."
He added: "What is of great concern to me is the very real risk that these events will result in violence.
"During previous events a small minority have targeted police officers with extreme violence, resulting in police officers being injured.
"We also have to remember that the country remains in a national health crisis.
Officers were forced to run away from the barrage
Officers were forced to run away from the barrage (Image: Met Police)
"It is vitally important we all play our part in avoiding mass gatherings to help protect ourselves, family and friends.
"It is because of this, we will not standby and allow these events to happen. They will be shut down."
Police have released 999 calls from residents reporting illegal raves, with one man saying: "It's just scary."
A caller can be heard saying party-goers have "blockaded the road", while a woman complains they are "shouting, making too much noise, bottles everywhere".
Another caller says: "Hi, there's an illegal rave outside. There's hundreds of them and they're very noisy, very rowdy and there's more coming."
Launched objects caused pandemonium at the illegal rave
Launched objects caused pandemonium at the illegal rave (Image: Met Police)
The Met said officers will work with organisers and local authorities to shut down illegal raves and will use laws to seize sound systems and laptops or break up crowds and make arrests if people fail to comply.
Commander Adelekan, added: "I would urge anyone who has any information on a UME to reach out and let us know.
"The earlier we have information, the sooner we can act and ensure that crowds are sent away and sounds systems are turned off and seized."
Police across the country have had to deal with a surge in illegal raves since lockdown restrictions were eased.
The stand-off was captured from above
The stand-off was captured from above (Image: Met Police)
Avon and Somerset Police said they were powerless to stop an illegal rave near Bath swarming with more than 3,000 party-goers last weekend.
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The event, at the former RAF Charmy Down airfield about three miles from the city, began late on Saturday but was not shut down until Sunday afternoon.
What is happening where you live? Find out by adding your postcode.
Last Saturday, Greater Manchester Police said they dismantled a planned event after talking to audio equipment suppliers.
Protest group stormed supermarket telling shoppers 'Your masks are so bad for you' as they tried to buy food
One accused bewildered buyers of never asking questions about rules and were happy to 'just wear a mask'
Bizarrely one of the anti-mask protesters was actually wearing a mask from the Scream films himself
Are you or do you know a member of mask protest group StandUp X? Email: tips@dailymail.com or tom.pyman@mailonline.co.uk
By DAN SALES FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 15:26, 10 August 2020 | UPDATED: 18:28, 10 August 2020
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A mob of anti-mask protesters stunned grocery shoppers after storming a supermarket yelling 'You guys need to resist'.
Members of group StandUp X walked into the Morrison's store in Peckham, south London, to lecture people on wearing face coverings during the pandemic.
As shoppers harmlessly filling up their baskets looked on, the protesters walked through shouting that people should not submit to coronavirus rules.
And they told people buying food: 'Your masks are so bad for you.'
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Members of group StandUp X walked into the major superstore to lecture people on wearing face coverings +9
One protester shouted: "You are conditioned to believe everything the government tells you." +9
Members of group StandUp X walked into the supermarket in Peckham, south London, to lecture people on wearing masks
One shouted: 'You are conditioned to believe everything the government tells you.
'Never ask questions. You never ask questions, just wear a mask.
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'You know this agenda is the new world order agenda. They are conditioning you for the new world order guys. You guys need to resist.
'Resist the new world order guys. How many people die from the flu every year?
One of the protesters being filmed during the stunt +9
Another campaigner decrying wearing the masks +9
The unmasked protesters insisted the safety measures were not necessary to stop Covid-19 and people should ask questions
One anti mask protester wore a mask in the demo +9
Fingers were pointed at shoppers wearing masks +9
Bizarrely for an anti-mask protest, one campaigner was seen wearing one on his face, similar to the type in the Scream films
Do face coverings help reduce coronavirus transmission?
So, has the science evolved on face coverings?
A report by the Royal Society suggests basic homemade face coverings can reduce transmission if enough people wear them.
Dr Julian Tang, who is an associate professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, said wearing face coverings in public places could keep the R value below 1 by creating an 'artificial herd immunity'.
Are there any benefits to wearing them?
Experts say the risk of coronavirus transmission appears to be higher in poorly ventilated indoor spaces and wearing face coverings in small shops or enclosed shopping centres could help reduce the spread.
In addition, there is also increased evidence which suggests that many people with the virus who do not have symptoms can still be contagious.
What does this mean for those looking to go back to the office?
Experts say wearing face coverings could provide an added line of defence amid growing evidence of airborne transmission of coronavirus.
Dr Tang said: 'If half the people in the office wear a mask, it would increase artificial herd immunity to around 25 per cent, which can reduce transmission overall within the office, just by reducing the number of people who are susceptible.'
Are there downsides to face coverings?
There are many indoor spaces, such as pubs and restaurants, where the use of face coverings cannot be possible while eating and drinking.
Some experts have also shared concerns that wearing face coverings may give the wearer a false sense of security, although Prof Neal said there is 'no evidence to suggest that is the case'.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van Tam said in April: 'There is no evidence that general wearing of face masks by the public who are well, effects the spread of the disease in our society.'
Are some face coverings better than others?
The WHO advises a three-layer face covering in the community - the outer layer should be water resistant, the inner should be water absorbent and the mid-layer acts as a filter.
The Government said coverings can be made from scarves, bandanas or other fabric items, as long as they cover the mouth and nose.
'You are not asking any questions. You are just wearing a mask because they tell you to wear a mask. Do some research.'
StandUp x describe themselves as a group that is 'peacefully questioning the narrative.'
They believe the new lockdown rules are a state of 'authoritarian control' and say they do not consent to social distancing measures.
Their website says: 'We do not consent to Government social distancing measures infringing upon public and private life.
'We do not accept enforced masks. We do not accept a dictatorship of lockdowns, threats of lockdowns, and Covid Ghettos.'
They also question the need for 5G and various other government and charitable ventures.
As shoppers watched them walk through the store chanting, video footage shows none were wearing masks.
In contrast, many of those buying food were adhering to guidelines put in place by PM Boris Johnson to reduce the spread of the virus.
One protester handed out leaflets, while another shouted: 'Don't let the government lie to you no more!'
Another chanted: 'We are the people, we are the power, we are the 99%.'
The video was posted on the group's Twitter account, alongside the cation: 'On our London protest in Peckham Rye yesterday we took a detour to Morrisons to wake up the shoppers #londonprotest #peckhamrye #morrisons #nomasks #awake #HumanRights #freedom #covid #Police #media #Plandemic #Plandemic2020.'
It followed a series or organised marches across Britain protesting about the coronavirus rules.
Rallies have been held in Brighton, Sheffield and London and one will also take place this Saturday in Shoreditch.
At the Brighton march at the weekend, a member of the group said it had a pro-freedom and anti-lockdown stance and that its aim was to 'save our rights'.
Last month hundreds of activists descended on Hyde Park in central London to protest the wearing of face coverings, ahead of them becoming compulsory in shops and supermarkets.
Signs reading 'I will not be masked, tested, tracked' and 'no mask' were heald aloft by demonstrators after they gathered for the Keep Britain Free march.
The movement was founded by Simon Dolan, an aviation tycoon worth around £200million, who earlier this month lost a High Court bid to overturn the government's lockdown rules.
He had launched the campaign on July 6, saying: 'I believe in freedom of choice for all and the protection of personal liberties. The Government’s actions are crippling the economy, denying children education, and trampling over human rights.'
One man wore a plague doctor costume, another had a mask with the front ripped out and one donned a vest saying: 'Save human rights. No to 5G. No to vaccinations.'
People gathered to listen to speakers at a July protest organised by 'Keep Britain Free' which is against the wearing of masks +9
People gathered to listen to speakers at a July protest organised by 'Keep Britain Free' which is against the wearing of masks
The protest was to counter the government announcement that masks must be worn in shops from July 24, which organisers branded a 'liberty-sapping regulation'.
The march, which started in Speaker's Corner and moved to Marble Arch, also looked to repel 'the erosion of freedoms in the UK' brought in during lockdown.
Two months after attending a similar protest in Hyde Park, Piers Corbyn, brother of former Labour leader Jeremy, has also been seen at demonstrations.
A Devon woman Lara Crabb has also become a face of the anti-mask movement.
She posted videos of herself online proudly going into shops without the face coverings.
Crabb, who is linked to Keep Britain Free, wrote on Twitter earlier this month she had been told off by one shop for not wearing the protection.
She fumed: 'I spend a lot of money in your stores.
'I don’t expect to be mask "shamed" by your staff. That happened yesterday in your Dartmouth branch.
'Suggest you speak to them about their conduct. I will not ever wear a mask.'
Facebook user Aron Walton filmed himself walking around a Sainsbury's store with a grin on his face as he then asked a member of staff 'what's the policy' before telling him the rule cannot be enforced.
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Watch videoJohn McAfee's wife shares update after his arrest in Norway
Watch videoDrivers block cyclists right of way at new Cambridge roundabout
Watch videoBeluga whales rehomed in worlds first open sea sanctuary
Lara Crabb spoke of people avoiding her 'like the plague' as she filmed herself shopping in a farm store and a Tesco branch in Devon without covering her nose and mouth with a mask after wandering around shops last month +9
Tattoo artist Aron Walton filmed himself entering a Sainsbury's branch without a face covering which he dismissed as useless as he told staff they cannot enforce the new policy. The anti-masker filmed his stunt last month +9
Lara Crabb spoke of people avoiding her 'like the plague' as she filmed herself shopping in a farm store and a Tesco branch in Devon without covering her nose and mouth with a mask. Meanwhile tattoo artist Aron Walton filmed himself entering a Sainsbury's branch without a face covering as he told staff they cannot enforce the new policy
Twitter account 'Mr. Grunt' recorded video of the moment he approached a Boots store and asked the masked guard if he could enter, to which the guard replied 'yes, there are masks back there'.
In the video, which was posted online with the caption 'Well done @BootsUK! #NoMasks', the man says 'I can't wear a mask, is that ok' before the masked guard responds 'yeah, that's ok'.
And in London, Facebook user Reis Daniel says 'f*** it, I'm going in' before he is told by a member of Sainsbury's staff that he is not allowed in the store without a covering.
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Watch videoHarrowing footage shows man battling huge waves before he died
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Mr Daniel responds 'man, that's rough' before he snatches a bag of sweets by the check-out counter without paying for them and sprinting out of the store laughing.
Morrisons have been approached for comment following the protest, which took place on July 25.
StandUp X: The 'community of struggle against the New Normal'
A newly-formed group designed to oppose many of the government's rules and restrictions to try and prevent the spread of Covid-19, StandUp X describes itself as a 'community of struggle against the New Normal'.
It has already held a series of marches and says it invites anyone 'questioning the mainstream narrative' to join in its 'peaceful rallies'.
On its website, StandUp X says it does not consent to the 'illegal and disproportionate measures' and argues that Britain is 'living in a state of authoritarian control'.
Social distancing measures, the wearing of masks, the enforcement of lockdowns and 'Covid Ghettos' are among the rules and regulations StandUp X opposes.
It also wants to take a stand against vaccinations, claiming they 'violate the principles of the Nuremberg Code' - a set of research ethics principles for human experimentation created as a result of the Nuremberg trials at the end of the Second World War.
The code states: 'Any preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic medical intervention is only to be carried out with the prior, free and informed consent of the person concerned.'
StandUp X warns 'forced, coerced and mandated' vaccinations will see humanity become 'a mass science experiment profiting billions for pharmaceutical companies and their partners including Bill Gates'.
Twenty people have been reported for consideration of £10,000 Fixed Penalty Notices following demonstrations in London.
These individuals have today, Saturday, 5 September, been reported for consideration of a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for £10,000 for the offence of holding a gathering of more than 30 people in an outdoor public place contrary to regulations 5B(1), (2)(b)(iii) and 8(1) and (4) of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No.2) (England) Regulations 2020:
The reports relate to a number of demonstrations across the capital today including “Resist the Government”, “Move One Million”, “The Ivory Coast Protest”, “Citizens’ Assembly Extinction Rebellion” and “The Lightship Greta procession”.
One report also relates to an anti-Government demonstration which took place in Trafalgar Square on Sunday, 30 August.
Commander Kyle Gordon, Gold Commander for the weekend’s policing operation, said: “Over the past week, the Met has managed various protests across central London which have caused serious disruption to local communities. Throughout this period we have become increasingly concerned the organisers of these events have not always taken all reasonable measures to limit the risk of transmission of Coronavirus, thereby posing a risk, not only to those involved, but the wider public and communities of London.
“We remain in the middle of a pandemic and we all need to play our part in keeping each other and our communities safe. The Met’s approach to policing the Coronavirus legislation has always been in line with the national policing approach, which is to engage, explain, encourage and only as a last resort enforce.
“Officers have been out proactively speaking to those organising events and demonstrations or taking part in them. They have been continuing to emphasise the public health risk and the regulations, and making it clear that the responsibility to ensure they are not committing an offence under the regulations rests with them.
“Today as a result of events on the ground a number of individuals have been reported for consideration of a Fixed Penalty Notice for £10,000.
“I would urge anyone considering gathering in groups of more than 30 to consider the risk to themselves and others. I would appeal to anyone planning on organising a gathering to consider your responsibilities under the regulations, and to do all you can to help keep our communities safe.” _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
A “whiteout” is meteorological condition in which snow falling from the sky and snow whipped up from the ground is whirled by a gale into a disorientating blanket of whiteness in which there are no visual bearings and it is all but impossible to navigate. It is an apt metaphor for the blizzard of coronavirus regulations which have cascaded out of Whitehall (and of course Cardiff and Holyrood too) since March. A search of the www.legislation.gov.uk website reveals a mind-boggling 133 (albeit each Welsh regulation is counted twice in English and Welsh versions) separate pieces of UK legislation, nearly all of them statutory instruments. Thus we have such delights as the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (Amendment No. 7) Regulations, The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Leicester) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020, The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Blackburn with Darwen and Bradford) Regulations 2020 and so on. And on and on. It is enormously difficult to find ones bearings amidst all these constantly changing rules and regulations. As David Allen Green put it on August 14th:
“There is not a lawyer or police officer in the land who any longer knows what is legal and not legal under coronavirus regulations. An absolute mess of a legal regime.”
Since August 14th matters have only got worse.
Piers Corbyn
It is not often that I have much sympathy with Jeremy Corbyn’s weather-forecaster brother Piers (or to give him his own rather baffling description “LongRange WorldLeading weather+climate forecaster BIEuUsa. SolarLunar Method NotCO2! AmericanThinker Climate Predictor2010. Bro #JC4PM”), or with any of the anti-vaxx, Qanon, and 5G conspiracists who participated in a rally against masks and coronavirus restrictions in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 29th August. As well as Mr Corbyn, they included the antisemitic conspiracy theorist David Icke and a small group who deployed a flag remarkably similar if not identical to that of the British Union of Fascists. These are not easy people to like, although no doubt there were some more reasonable folk amongst them as well.
Corbyn: £10,000 Fixed Penalty
Nevertheless the £10,000 Fixed Penalty Notice issued to Piers Corbyn as someone “involved in” the demonstration is disturbing. Mr Corbyn’s “FPN” requires him – strictly speaking one could argue it “invites him” but it is an invitation backed by a threat – to pay £10,000 for breaching Regulation 5B of The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020, as amended.
Regulation 5B was hastily made law last Friday 28th August, the day before the demonstration was held. It was introduced under an emergency procedure and was neither debated nor given even the most cursory scrutiny by any Parliamentary process. It permits the most junior Community Support Officer in the country to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice to the suspected organiser of a political event, demanding £10,000 to avoid prosecution and consequent financial ruin. Given its timing, even if it was not introduced with the purpose of targetting the organisers of a political protest against government policy, it very much has that appearance.
Statutory Instruments
All the relevant coronavirus criminal laws – the lock-downs national and local, the closure of businesses, the requirements to wear masks, to quarantine and so on – have been created by statutory instrument. (The Coronavirus Act 2020, though the target of much misdirected criticism, is largely irrelevant). For readers with legal knowledge I apologise for stating the obvious, but a “statutory instrument” is a law made not by Parliament, like an Act, but by a Minister under a delegated authority given by an Act of Parliament, the “parent Act.” In this case the parent Act is the Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984, S.45C of which, gives the Minister of Health powers to make regulations:
“for the purpose of preventing, protecting against, controlling or providing a public health response to the incidence or spread of infection or contamination in England and Wales (whether from risks originating there or elsewhere).”
These powers include [S.45C (3) (c)]:
“imposing or enabling the imposition of restrictions or requirements on or in relation to persons, things or premises in the event of, or in response to, a threat to public health.”
Particularly relevant to Mr Corbyn’s fixed penalty, these restrictions can include [see S.45C (4) (b)]:
“a prohibition or restriction relating to the holding of an event or gathering.”
There are limits to the regulations that can be made. Under S.45D:
“Regulations under S.45C may not include provision imposing a restriction or requirement by virtue of subsection (3)(c) of that section unless the appropriate Minister considers, when making the regulations, that the restriction or requirement is proportionate to what is sought to be achieved by imposing it.”
The “appropriate Minister” is Mr Hancock, and he has dealt with that somewhat fatuous requirement by including within the preamble to the regulations the statement that he considers that they are indeed proportionate to what he seeks to achieve (“a public health response … to the threat of SARS-CoV-2 in England”).
A general challenge to the lawfulness of the regulations was rejected in Dolan v. Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2020] EWHC 1786, although the unsuccessful applicants in that case have since been given leave to appeal. Although I over-simplify, Mr Dolan argued that the regulations were outside (“ultra vires”) the powers delegated by the 1984 Act, and that they were incompatible with various rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, such as that to a private and family life and the right to associate.
The lawfulness of the 28th August amendments to the regulations which gave rise to Mr Corbyn’s FPN has of course not yet been tested in court.
Statutory Instruments: Parliamentary procedure
Generally a statutory instrument, though made by a minister and not Parliament, must go through some sort of parliamentary scrutiny process before it becomes or remains law. The exact procedure varies but however it is done there is no power to amend, and in practice it is almost unheard of for an instrument to be rejected or annulled. Between 1950 and 2015 only 17 out of over 170,000 statutory instruments were rejected by Parliament.
The last time the House of Commons exercised its power in this way was in 1979 when, probably as a result of some procedural confusion, it annulled The Paraffin (Maximum Retail Prices) Revocation Order. For reasons too technical to explain here (and which I don’t altogether follow myself) the effect was to cause the Privy Council to issue the The Paraffin (Maximum Retail Prices) Revocation (No. 2) Order which revoked the revocation. The rejoicing, if there was any, of those who objected to the removal of the cap on paraffin prices was short-lived. On the very same day the Energy Minister issued the The Paraffin (Maximum Retail Prices) Revocation (No. 3) Order, thus revoking the revocation of the revocation. Farcical is perhaps too kind a word for this sort of nonsense.
Parliamentary scrutiny of statutory instruments is in practice so minimal that it would be unfair on vestigia to call it vestigial.
(It is outside the scope of this blogpost, but one of the indirect effects of Brexit by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019, has been to hand to Ministers the power to make statutory instruments on a hitherto undreamt of scale, including many powers to amend Acts of Parliament by ministerial decree, so-called “Henry VIII” clauses).
Coronavirus Regulations: Emergency Procedure
S.45Q of the 1984 Act provides that statutory instruments containing regulations under S.45C should not become law unless:
“a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.”
In theory, if not in practice, this should ensure a higher level of scrutiny than most statutory instruments receive. That is quite sensible given that the regulations capable of being made under S. 45C have been described by a Lord Justice of Appeal as “possibly the most restrictive regime on the public life of persons and businesses ever, certainly outside times of war.”
However, since Parliament was in recess, this procedure could not be followed.
Emergency Procedure
How then could Mr Hancock create the law with which Mr Corbyn has been hit? The answer lies in Section 45R which allows for an emergency procedure – an emergency within an emergency if you like – where:
“The instrument may be made without a draft having been laid and approved … if the instrument contains a declaration that the person making it is of the opinion that, by reason of urgency, it is necessary to make the order without a draft being so laid and approved.”
The regulations themselves do indeed contain such a declaration:
“In accordance with section 45R of that Act the Secretary of State is of the opinion that, by reason of urgency, it is necessary to make this instrument without a draft having been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.”
Some might question why there was such urgency to make a law targetting event organisers with a £10,000 fixed penalty on August 28th when the instrument could have been made in the usual way, laying it before Parliament at any time between March and July, when Parliament was sitting and the incidence of the disease was much higher; or why it could not wait three days until Parliament returned from its summer holiday on September 1st, but Mr Hancock’s bland statement that he thinks such urgency exists is all the law requires.
There are a few more general points.
The regulations do provide a “defence” of a sort to the organisers of political meetings. They do not apply to events organised by a “political body” if the organiser has carried out a risk assessment and taken “all reasonable measures to limit the risk of transmission of the coronavirus.” It is possible that the ad hoc alliance of lock-down sceptics of which Mr Corbyn is a supporter comes within the definition of a “political body” under the regulations, but it is very improbable, given the aims of the alliance, that it had taken any measures, let alone all reasonable measures, to limit the risk of transmission.
Payment of the fixed penalty is optional, in the sense that payment of a speeding ticket it optional. If Mr Corbyn pays the £10,000 no conviction is recorded against him.
If he chooses not to pay the fixed penalty he can be prosecuted in the magistrates court for the offence of breaching the regulation, and if convicted he would be liable to an unlimited fine. He cannot be imprisoned for the offence itself, but if he refuses to pay any fine imposed he can be imprisoned as an enforcement measure. For a fine of up to £10,000 the maximum period of imprisonment in default is 6 months. For a fine over £10,000 it is 12 months. No-one can predict what fine a Magistrates Court might impose, but there is no maximum fine. Presumably the £10,000 fixed penalty figure would be taken as some sort of guide.
The 28th August regulations fix the FPN for someone involved in an unlawful gathering at £10,000. There is no discretion given to set a lower amount.
You might assume perhaps that – as some government publicity seemed to imply – that it is only the “organisers” of such a gathering that are at risk. Your assumption would be incorrect. The S.5B (1) offence is not to “organise” but to:
“hold or be involved in the holding of a relevant gathering.”
“Involvement” is not defined except to make clear that:
“a person is not involved in the holding of a gathering if that person’s only involvement in the gathering is by attendance at the gathering.”
The implication is that without those words simply attending at a gathering would count as “involvement” in its holding. Thus, the regulations seem to catch anyone who, for example, publicises a demonstration (perhaps by posting a tweet or a link on Facebook). Even chanting slogans or carrying a banner goes beyond mere “attendance.” This means that in practice virtually anyone attending a “relevant gathering”, or encouraging others to attend, can be liable to a £10,000 FPN.
The penalties can be issued by an “authorised person,” which include a police constable or a community support officer (see Reg 9 (13) of the No. 2 Regulations, if you are still with me). Some might consider it remarkable that any police officer can now issue the organisers of political meetings with a demand for a sum of money so large that very few private individuals would have a hope of paying, and quite extraordinary that this is a power given even to Community Support Officers.
The quasi-criminal procedure of the FPN was originally devised to deal with minor parking and traffic offences. Over the years their use has expanded, to include minor public order incidents, litter, dog fouling and the like. Until the Coronavirus Regulations the maximum amount of any fixed penalty was £500 (for permitting noise from licensed premises). The procedure has now been deployed, with 2 days notice and no Parliamentary scrutiny of any sort, to target the organiser of a political meeting with a sum 20 times greater than any fixed penalty ever before created under English law. This is unprecedented and deeply disturbing and no less so because it is being used against a crank.
The fact that Mr Corbyn may be a crank, and that many of those at his meeting may have had disreputable or even disgusting political opinions is quite beside the point. As Sedley LJ put it in Redman-Bate v. DPP [1999] EWHC 733:
“Free speech includes not only the inoffensive but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative provided it does not tend to provoke violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having. … From the condemnation of Socrates to the persecution of modern writers and journalists, our world has seen too many examples of state control of unofficial ideas. A central purpose of the European Convention on Human Rights has been to set close limits to any such assumed power.”
I’m afraid Mr Corbyn will look to the European Convention on Human Rights in vain. The judges will say that the government was entitled to make the law that it did, and that even if his right to freedom of speech and assembly has been engaged, any restrictions were “necessary in a democratic society” for “the protection of health,” something specifically permitted under the Convention.
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:40 pm Post subject:
National Council For Civil Liberties petition: TO: THE PRIME MINISTER
The Coronavirus Act is the greatest limitation on our civil liberties in a generation and harms our most basic human rights.
Emergency measures are still in force and could be renewed indefinitely, giving police dangerously sweeping powers, allowing mental health and social care safeguards to be suspended and placing our protest rights under permanent threat.
Repeal the Coronavirus Act 2020 and focus on a response that protects our rights.
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:43 pm Post subject:
MESSAGE FROM PIERS AND HIS NEW CROWDFUNDER AFTER PREVIOUS WAS BLOCKED ->
I've just been released after being locked up for almost 24 hours by South Yorkshire Police. I have been charged with 3 offences - not wearing a mask in Marks & Spencer, participating in an illegal gathering (at the Peace Garden, Sheffield) and organising the gathering, contrary to the Coronavirus Regulations. A second £10,000 fine is looming if I am convicted.
Events followed a similar pattern to London last weekend.
Suddenly, at around 3pm orders came from "on high" to arrest me. There had been no attempt by police to disperse the rally beforehand, and I told the Inspector I was not an organiser (I live in London) but just a speaker; I gave him my details should he want to report me for a Fixed Penalty Notice. He later ordered me to leave the area which he has no power to do, unless the gathering is illegal - which it wasn't. After the rally I went into M&S to use the toilet and when I came out police made a heavy handed attempt to arrest me.
This arrest was arbitrary and unlawful, and did not even follow the Regulations themselves. These specify that an arrest can only be effected if the conditions in s24 PACE 1984 apply - which they did not. The police then tried to justify the arrest by saying it had been done "to prevent [me] causing physical injury to [myself] or any other person. PACE CodeG 2.9 (c)(i)." A load of nonsense.
This unlawful arrest triggered an unfortunate confrontation in the shopping centre as people were concerned at police arresting me unlawfully, and hence assaulting me. I know that 3 others were arrested as well.
I have now instructed my lawyers to draft a letter to South Yorkshire Police to ask them to justify my arrest or issue an apology. As for the Court case that is at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on 3 November 2020 at 10am.
I have been bailed on condition not to attend any illegal protest of more than 30 people anywhere in the UK. I will challenge that condition as it allows the police to arrest me pretty much on sight at any protest on "reasonable suspicion" that I am breach of my bail conditions. This is a clear attempt to silence me. Who gave the order for my recent arrests? PM Boris Johnson said on 7 June 2020 that there was a right to protest peacefully; if that is still the case in the UK, Boris please tell the Police! Or have all human rights now been suspended?!
Please note that I am still allowed to attend and speak at any rally of more than 30 on a public open space that is organised within Regulation 5B. But this is not enough - this is still a chilling effect on the right to protest, and human rights must remain paramount.
Please write to your MP to protest about any extension of the Coronavirus Act and Regulations due to be renewed and debated in Parliament for the very first time within 7 days of 26 September 2020. Complain to them about the assault on our freedoms and civil rights.
Thanks to everyone for their support. I vow to keep up the good fight - do not expect me to be silenced any time soon!!
Violence erupted in Sheffield city centre, following an ‘anti-mask’ protest in the nearby Peace Gardens, led by Piers Corbyn.
By Nik Farah
Sunday, 6th September 2020, 1:30 pm
Around 300 people attended the demonstration at 12pm on Saturday, which called for an end to nationwide lockdowns, and to the enforcement of mandatory mask wearing.
Mr Corbyn – the brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – spoke at the event, labelling the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic ‘utterly insane.’
“We gave Boris Johnson a final warning to prove there was a virus or give up, and as he didn’t respond, he must now give up all the lockdowns,” said the prominent climate-change denier, as police flanked the square - warning onlookers they were in direct violation of health guidelines and at risk of incurring a £10,000 fine.
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Piers Corbyn arrives at the protest in Sheffield
Piers Corbyn arrives at the protest in Sheffield
Mr Corbyn continued: “Our key message for the public is that the lockdowns are unjustified.
"This is the lockdown to end your rights and freedom, to control you.”
He accused the government of having a hidden agenda, adding that the move towards mass vaccination was really dangerous.
He said “Why vaccinate the whole planet for something only affecting 0.006 per cent of the population?
'Anti-mask' protest held in Sheffield's Peace Gardens
'Anti-mask' protest held in Sheffield's Peace Gardens
"No vaccines whatsoever!”
He also told listeners it was important to spread the message about how dangerous masks are - posing a risk to health due to illnesses such as legionnaire's disease.
He urged people to demand an urgent lifting of all lockdowns and told everyone present to go home and write to their MPs immediately.
“We are now a movement, and we will win provided we have a mass united action,” he added.
Piers says: 'We are now a movement' urging those present to join the protest in London on September 26
Piers says: 'We are now a movement' urging those present to join the protest in London on September 26
"It’s down to you to put out propaganda which shows the truth, and mobilise numbers like we’ve never seen before to march on September 26 in London.”
Following the hour-long protest, which was organised by the group StandUpX Mission, protestors took to Sheffield’s Fargate, entering shops without masks in direct violation of health guidelines.
Video footage has emerged of the chaotic scene, in which protestors can be seen scuffling and squaring up to police officers as crowds file along and while mounted police pass by.
It took police several minutes to reach protest leader Mr Corbyn, who was being protected by a number of protestors who continued to jeer and shout abuse at police officers as they tried to reach him.
Once arrested, Mr Corbyn was led away on Fargate by police as angry protesters shouted ‘shame on you’ at officers.
Shortly after the arrest, police could be seen battling to resuscitate an onlooker who slumped over during the chaotic incident. Moments before his collapse, the video shows the man sitting down as another approaches to check he’s alright.
The shattering footage shows officers giving CPR for nearly four minutes before paramedics arrive, whilst holding back protestors shouting more abuse and cries of ‘murderers.’
It is understood the man was brought around by paramedics - who took him to hospital.
An eye witness said: “Police were still 100 per cent professional and sheltered the man while working on him.
“The police officers were tirelessly trying to save the man’s life until an ambulance arrived and luckily revived him.”
Urgent......, please watch this proposed legislation share as much as you can!!!!
We have until the 18th of this month, to stop the mandatory vaccine for this Covid-19 !!!!!!!!
Thanks
Sign petition. It’s here
https://mp-22.com/vax-petition _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Previously, France introduced the mandatory use of face masks for Parisians and limited the maximum number of participants to 5,000 at public events.
Sputnik is live from Paris as "Yellow Vests" protesters hold a rally against the government, marching through the French capital despite a new outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
The Yellow Vests protests against President Emmanuel Macron's policies erupted in November 2018, initially sparked by rising fuel prices and a pension reform plan.
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 2:37 pm Post subject:
What can we learn about lockdowns from the country whose dictator told them to fight Covid by drinking vodka? IAN BIRRELL visits Belarus and finds that the death rate appears lower than ours - despite its leader's deranged ideas
Alexander Lukashenko is last dictator in Europe who ruled Belarus for 26 year
Nation’s professional football league played on through the pandemic’s peak
Death rates from coronavirus do not seem all that different from elsewhere
By IAN BIRRELL IN MINSK, BELARUS, FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
As the sun slid from the evening sky over Minsk, clusters of people thronged the imposing entrance of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus clutching their tickets for the ballet.
Many had dressed up to attend one of the city’s landmark buildings, a legacy of the Stalin era that was inspired by Roman amphitheatres.
‘We don’t want our theatres closed,’ said Darya, an elegant 25-year-old heading in to enjoy the performance of The Creation Of The World with friends Igor and Nadia.
‘You need art to live a full life, despite anything else that is happening in the world.’
Minutes later, I watched in the imposing auditorium as the large orchestra struck up, five dancers appeared and 800 people sat back to enjoy the show.
Darya is right about the ability of art and culture to lift spirits in dark times. Yet in Britain, as in other parts of the world, theatre doors remain shut with live entertainment among the sectors hit hardest by pandemic.
Medical volunteers from the 'Street medicine' initiative wearing protective gear help sick homeless people during a charity event in Minsk, Belarus, on May 2 +7
Medical volunteers from the 'Street medicine' initiative wearing protective gear help sick homeless people during a charity event in Minsk, Belarus, on May 2
But things are rather different in Belarus.
Alexander Lukashenko, the last dictator in Europe who has ruled the country for 26 years, swept aside fears over the disease and scoffed at the concept of lockdowns.
He claimed the planet was being swept by ‘psychosis’, suggested his people drink vodka to ‘poison the virus’ and poked fun at the idea of protective measures.
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The nation’s professional football league played on through the pandemic’s peak as all Europe’s other leagues closed down and countries went into lockdown.
Yet this maverick despot’s bizarre stance means this little-known land – a strange hangover from Soviet times, with huge state-run factories and KGB agents prowling the streets – offers an intriguing glimpse of what happens if a state leaves Covid unchecked.
For the country has ignored dire warnings of doom from some experts but, curiously, death rates from the virus do not seem all that different from places that imposed strict lockdowns.
Alexander Lukashenko (pictured) has ruled the country for 26 years +7
Alexander Lukashenko (pictured) has ruled the country for 26 years
‘The measures in Belarus, like in Sweden, were diametrically opposed to your country but the numbers seem similar, which is weird,’ said one senior epidemiologist.
Their fatality figures may actually be significantly better than in the UK – whether through good luck or the measures taken by alarmed citizens on their own.
At the very least, Belarus offers an unusual perspective on the pandemic, and although this secretive nation currently in political turmoil could not be more different from a serene Scandinavian democracy, it has shared Sweden’s avoidance of a lockdown. Lukashenko’s daft actions included denying the existence of viruses as death numbers began to mount from the disease. ‘Do you see any of them flying around?’ he asked in March. ‘I don’t see them either.’
The strongman disdained border controls, predicted the pandemic would pass by Easter, said the first victim was responsible for their own death and refused to cancel a presidential election or events involving elderly veterans to mark the end of the Second World War.
‘It’s better to die standing than to live on your knees,’ he said at one point.
Later, having caught the disease himself, he claimed it was planted on him and carried on ignoring suggestions adopted elsewhere to slow the spread, apart from urging social distancing. ‘In no case stay at home,’ he said last month. ‘Move more in the air, run, jump, play sport.’
Lukashenko’s refusal to accept medical reality fuelled furious protests that followed his blatant theft of last month’s presidential election. Big demonstrations have led to thousands of arrests, brutal beatings and horrifying torture by his security squads.
Darya, Igor and Nadia going to The National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of Belarus +7
Darya, Igor and Nadia going to The National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of Belarus
Dimitri Ivanovich, a data analyst whose mother is recovering from Covid in hospital after two weeks of intensive care, said people had died due to misinformation. ‘There were no public health measures, no help for businesses. People were left alone with the virus.’
Several people I met told me the dictator’s stance starkly exposed his contempt for citizens. ‘Society is more solid than ever before and it started with Covid,’ said Victoria Fedorova, chairwoman of a leading human rights group.
She believes this defiance began with people joining forces to raise funds to buy protective gear for frontline staff. One medical insider told me that 30 doctors have died from the disease; another said all those in his large hospital near Minsk caught the virus.
Officially, there have been just 813 Covid deaths and 77,289 cases in this country of 9.5 million people – among the lowest rates in Europe. State-controlled media bragged of success in contrast with ‘sadder’ data from nations such as Britain with fatality levels about seven times higher.
A far more reliable figure emerged after the government supplied data to the United Nations that revealed 5,605 excess deaths between April and June, when the pandemic peaked, compared to the previous year.
Doctors confirmed such figures. Mikita Salavei, associate professor in the infectious diseases department at Belarusian State Medical University, estimated there have been 8,000 deaths from the virus as the second wave emerges. ‘We are very similar to Sweden in terms of cases and fatalities,’ he said. ‘Our results are not any worse than several other countries.’
Indeed, they may be significantly better than the UK. England and Wales recorded 55,529 excess deaths between April and June, almost two-thirds higher per head of population than the figures from Belarus.
Supporters of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko staged a protest outside the Lithuanian Embassy in Minsk earlier this week +7
Supporters of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko staged a protest outside the Lithuanian Embassy in Minsk earlier this week
International comparisons are tricky with this disease. There are differences in data collation. Britain is one of the world’s most globalised nations whereas Belarus is more isolated and has much lower population density, despite Minsk’s crowded suburbs .
The two countries have similar proportions of elderly but Belarus has few care homes and far more hospital beds per head of population – a legacy of its Soviet heritage. Yet estimates based on the infamous Imperial College, London, modelling in March that panicked the British Government into lockdown warned of a total of 66,800 Covid deaths in Belarus by the end of next month without any preventative measures.
It predicted a possible 32,000 deaths by October if only mild actions were taken to slow the spread of infection, and 15,000 fatalities if there was strong suppression of social contacts. But the current death toll is actually only about half that.
Officials have found it hard to act independently in this autocratic state, yet some preventative tactics were imposed by local leaders. ‘No one called it “quarantine” but measures were taken,’ said one epidemiologist.
Dzmitry Markelau, a Minsk surgeon, put it more bluntly. ‘The president was stupid in what he was saying. So everything was left to us. Hospitals were repurposed to focus on Covid and people around the elderly started wearing masks.’
Alarmed citizens also started taking their own action. This is a nation with a thriving digital community plus well-grounded suspicions over state duplicity after suffering dreadfully from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Many stories I heard in Belarus were similar to elsewhere in Europe: shortages of protective gear, concerns over surging cancer cases after hospitals were retooled to focus on Covid, and economic carnage.
Bars, beauty salons, cafes and shops all told me that although they stayed open, their takings crashed as people stayed away when infections started soaring in April, and they have not fully recovered. ‘People stopped going on the streets and eating out,’ said Artsiom, a manager in a small chain of pizza restaurants that had to dismiss some staff. His lunchtime sales still struggle as people work from home.
The nation’s footballers may have played on after being told to wash their hands, but fans stayed away. Dynamo Brest filled its stands with mannequins in club colours after attendances plummeted from 10,000 to just 800.
Yet there seem few signs of fear about the disease, especially with mass protests each weekend and most people not wearing masks – as shown by the Bolshoi Theatre’s reopening earlier this month. It closed in April after many performers, returning from events abroad, caught the disease, although they continued rehearsals while halving salaries. ‘We are like happy kids to be open again,’ said Tatiana Alexandrova, head of marketing.
Berlin, a leading music venue in a dingy Minsk basement, was shut down briefly by officials. ‘They closed us because of coronavirus but after a week they did not seem to care so we reopened,’ said director Pavel Yurtsevich. His venue has been hurt by the lack of foreign bands on tour but was preparing for a heavy metal festival on Friday night.
‘We see the UK with its lockdown but it did not seem to solve anything,’ he said. ‘It is all about individual responsibility, and as employers we have responsibility for our staff.’
Belarus is a society filled with mistrust for its ruler, in contrast to Sweden, which has high levels of faith in its officials, yet I found some similarities in their response to pandemic since it ultimately relied on the actions of citizens rather than state diktat.
Last month I reported for The Mail on Sunday from Sweden on its brave approach. I was impressed – despite the shocking failures in care homes that exposed systemic problems, as in Britain, and drove up their Covid death rates.
Instead of constant flip-flopping, Swedish officials sought a sustainable response to the crisis with a wider perspective on public health rather than simply focusing on the virus.
They imposed limited restraints, kept advice clear and consistent, and, crucially, allowed businesses and schools for children under 16 to stay open.
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This approach – which sees big lockdowns as a blunt instrument that needlessly harm many people – is based on the belief that you cannot contain a global pandemic and must trust citizens. Despite some clusters of cases, Sweden seems to have comparatively low infection levels even as a second wave escalates across Europe.
‘Lockdowns are not a sustainable approach,’ said Anna Mia Ekstrom, a professor of global infectious disease epidemiology at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute. ‘There must be a more balanced approach that targets protection of those most at risk without the colossal collateral damage we are seeing from interventions such as school closures, business shutdowns and interruptions in health services.’
She said Sweden, like other European countries, was now seeing lower death rates than previous years following the deaths of so many vulnerable old people in March and April.
Meanwhile, greater testing was exposing more cases in younger age groups. ‘Do not believe that a vaccine is a magic bullet,’ she said. ‘We are going to have to find ways to live with this disease. For interventions to be sustainable, they must be widely supported. Otherwise we cannot expect people to take responsibility and change their normal ways of life, maybe for ever, and we can’t lock down the planet in perpetuity.’
Interestingly, Belgium, with death and current infection levels higher than in Britain, seems to be shifting towards a loosening of measures after local curfews, mandatory masks and a ‘rule of five’ failed to stop infections spreading.
One Belarusian respiratory doctor at a hospital specialising in Covid told me he was surprised Britain had suddenly abandoned the Swedish model when switching to lockdown in March. ‘It would have been better to continue on that path,’ he said.
Certainly, no sane expert would recommend emulating Belarus’s approach – with outright denial of Covid’s existence from the country’s leader, dismal failure to inform citizens properly of the dangers and disturbing distortion of key data. Yet this troubled state may still offer fascinating insights into dealing with this mysterious new disease.
‘We have seen the same effect as Britain with fewer restrictions,’ said one regional epidemiologist. ‘The laws of epidemiology show that if there are infections, you must try to stop the spread of disease. But you cannot put people’s lives on hold forever.’
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 11:44 pm Post subject:
New Covid rules are unjust, cruel and illogical: Middlesbrough mayor ANDY PRESTON explains why he REJECTS local lockdown measures being imposed on his city
People in my town are frustrated, angry and dismayed at the Government’s draconian proposals to impose even more oppressive local restrictions.
There’s nothing compassionate or pragmatic about what Health Secretary Matt Hancock intends to do.
It’s badly thought out, illogical and – despite what the Government claimed yesterday – it is not based on consultation with councils or local experts.
To throw people out of work and take away the support of their friends, family and community is just cruel. People are seen in Middlesbrough +4
To throw people out of work and take away the support of their friends, family and community is just cruel. People are seen in Middlesbrough
Fortunately these plans are not yet in place – and hopefully they stay that way. For I know I speak on behalf of Middlesbrough here when I say that, as things stand, we do not accept them.
Of course, stopping the spread of the virus has to be the Government’s priority. But this must be done with an awareness of the pain that isolation can inflict, and the damage it does to mental and physical health.
Above all, for God’s sake, we have to do everything possible to preserve people’s livelihoods.
Our local council went to the Government and explained the over-riding importance of this. We asked them to work with the community and local businesses, to allow safe socialising and keep Middlesbrough moving. They didn’t listen.
To me, it is obvious that anyone should be allowed to visit a relative or a friend in their garden, and have a cup of coffee while remaining well distanced. And, of course, we should be able to meet them for a chat in a well-run, socially distanced coffee shop.
Yet these new rules – which essentially ban different households from meeting – will prohibit all those safe, human activities that are small but so essential for wellbeing.
People are seen shopping in Middlesbrough town centre. People in my town are frustrated, angry and dismayed at the Government’s draconian proposals to impose even more oppressive local restrictions +4
People are seen shopping in Middlesbrough town centre. People in my town are frustrated, angry and dismayed at the Government’s draconian proposals to impose even more oppressive local restrictions
To add to the insanity, it isn’t even clear how the regulations will be enforced. Like so many growing towns, Middlesbrough spills out of its boundaries – and the neighbouring borough of Redcar and Cleveland is not included in the restrictions.
It’ll be two rules for one town, and sometimes two rules within one street.
This is bitterly unfair on a community which is still recovering from the recessions of the 1980s.
I don’t like complaining because my parents always said that life’s not fair, but that is no reason to introduce obviously and unnecessarily unfair measures such as these.
For now is the worst possible time to be forbidding people to socialise. Six months of long nights and cold weather are on the way.
To throw people out of work and take away the support of their friends, family and community is just cruel.
It will push many people into depression, and I am afraid that increased rates of suicide will be just one of the terrible consequences. Crucially it doesn’t have to be like this.
After the initial lockdown, our public health experts came up with innovative, workable ideas to make venues safe and limit the spread of the virus, while still allowing people to see each other. But the Government seems to have paid no attention to these advances.
The injustice is heightened because Middlesbrough has been at the forefront of tough measures to try to stem the tide during this global crisis. We have not been soft on Covid-19.
As a council, we have been active and caring, and we’ve got stuff done. We’ve handed out 180,000 free facemasks, and my team was pushing for people in the hospitality industry to wear them long before it became obligatory. To me it was an obvious preventative measure, one enforced across much of Europe, and we led the way.
Yes, I will reluctantly obey these new rules if they become law and I will urge everyone in my town to do so. This isn’t about raising two fingers to Downing Street. It’s much more important than a mere protest.
But before the Government makes a dire mistake and puts these restrictions into law, I’m pleading with them to think again.
We need a plan to reduce transmission of the virus while showing compassion and understanding. That is what is missing.
Protest exemption set to be removed from England lockdown rules
Expected move is met with fierce criticism from campaigners and human rights groups
Coronavirus – latest updates
See all our coronavirus coverage
Jamie Grierson and Vikram Dodd
Tue 3 Nov 2020 19.41 GMTFirst published on Tue 3 Nov 2020 12.56 GMT
A Black Lives Matter protest in Westminster, London on 12 July
There have been a series of a high-profile protests since the pandemic erupted in the UK including demonstrations for racial equality led by the Black Lives Matter movement. Photograph: Peter Summers/Getty Images
Protections for protesters are set to be removed from the coronavirus rules under the second national lockdown, it has emerged, provoking anger from human rights groups and campaigners.
An exemption that permits demonstrations to take place with additional conditions designed to mitigate the spread of the virus is expected to be omitted from fresh regulations being drawn up for the lockdown that will commence from this Thursday.
There have been a series of a high-profile protests since the pandemic erupted in the UK including rallies for racial equality led by the Black Lives Matter movement, racist counter-demonstrations and marches against lockdown measures directed by conspiracy theorists and extremists.
While there will be no explicit ban on protests in the regulations, the removal of the exemption will render organising large-scale lawful protest almost impossible.
The expected move, first revealed by the Times, has been met with fierce criticism from campaigners and human rights groups.
Tyrek Morris, the co-founder of All Black Lives UK, a youth-led campaign group born out of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, said: “With regards to protesting, and protesting through the pandemic, one thing that is clear, we have no support from the government in any way shape or form.”
Morris said protests organised by All Black Lives UK had faced a heavy handed response, despite meeting the criteria set out by the exemption.
“Since the BLM movement arose again, the government has been completely against our protest, against protest full stop, and at every chance possible have tried to stop us. But we’ve always found a way around it. They could stop us protesting, but they can’t stop us fighting for our own rights.”
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Morris said criticism of the current government was implicit in the All Black Lives UK protests. “We have criticism for the way the government has mishandled the coronavirus pandemic, for how black people are more likely to suffer from this pandemic, we’ve been very vocal about Boris Johnson and his racist tendencies, his previous comments. So this does not come as a shock to me. They don’t want to hear us talk.”
Rosalind Comyn, the policy and campaigns manager at Liberty, the human rights group, said: “We should all be able to stand up for what we believe in. In a healthy democracy protest is one way we do that, and that’s why any measures which stop people expressing dissent are deeply worrying and should be treated with suspicion.
“We have always supported proportionate measures to protect lives, but people must not be criminalised en masse for voicing opposition to government action – even in the context of a pandemic. What’s more, parliament has been sidelined at every turn of this government’s pandemic response, making protest even more important than ever to ensure everyone’s voices are heard.
“The government and police must commit to uphold their duty to facilitate protest so we can stand up to power.”
A spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion UK, which has staged climate protests since the pandemic outbreak, said: “Only a government keenly aware of its epic failing would bring in such extreme restrictions to protest.
“These are the actions of a government not willing to listen to its citizens. Studies over the last year have found that protests held outdoors do not lead to spikes in infection rates. This is clearly a political choice at a time when the government needs to be held to account on many fronts.”
When the regulations were refreshed for the new three-tiered system in England, the wording explicitly said a clause about gatherings of more than six was applicable to protests.
The clause in effect permitted individuals to gather in a group of more than six for the purposes of protest as long as the following rules were satisfied:
The gathering has been organised by a business, a charity, a benevolent or philanthropic institution, a public body, or a political body.
The organiser of the protest has carried out a risk assessment that meets the requirements of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
The organiser has taken all reasonable steps to limit the risk of transmission of coronavirus, in line with the risk assessment and with any relevant government guidance.
But while the clause remains in the new lockdown regulations, which were published late on Tuesday, the explicit reference to “protests” has vanished.
Whitehall sources told the Guardian the change was spearheaded by the Covid-19 taskforce and was designed to make the rules simpler.
But a senior police source told the Guardian they feared being “left in the middle” by any dropping of the protections for protests and also would rather there was a clear-cut regulation, rather than something vague and open to interpretation. “It’s going to be difficult,” the source said.
Police are saying they are already under strain from trying to impose existing Covid regulations, with regular crime returning to normal levels, having plunged during the first lockdown.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The right to peaceful protest is one of the cornerstones of our democracy. In these unprecedented circumstances, any gathering risks spreading the disease, leading to more deaths, so it is vital we all play our part in controlling the virus.
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