COVID-19 protests in the United Kingdom
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, numerous protests took place over the government's response.
COVID-19 anti-lockdown protests
in the United Kingdom
20 April 2020 – 18 March 2022
(1 year, 10 months, 3 weeks and 5 days)
- Opposition to the British government response to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns and other restrictions
- Opposition to vaccination and immunity passports
- Ending COVID-19 restrictions in the United Kingdom
- Pay rises and improved working conditions for healthcare workers
- Peaceful protesting
- Defying social distancing
End of protest;
- Most of the COVID measures lifted on 18 March 2022[1]
12+
400+
Anti-lockdown protests took place in opposition to restrictions, starting in April 2020 against the first national lockdown, and continuing during subsequent lockdowns and other regional restriction systems. These overlapped with anti-vaccination protests, which continued after the start of the UK's vaccination programme in December 2020. Several media outlets blamed online COVID-19 misinformation, denialism and conspiracy theories as driving factors in the protest movement.[2][3][4][5][6] The Economist described the protests as "countercultural" and attracting people from a variety of demographics and political leanings.[7] Hundreds of protesters have been arrested for violating lockdown restrictions, social distancing measures and other public health laws.[8]
Unrelated protests were held by or in support of National Health Service staff involved in the frontline health response to demand for pay rises and improved working conditions.
2022[edit]
February 2022[edit]
On 7 February, while Labour leader Keir Starmer and his colleague David Lammy were leaving Parliament, they were ambushed by a group of anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protesters who shouted abuse at Starmer including the words "traitor" and "Jimmy Savile"; the latter followed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's attempt in parliament (on 31 January) to falsely blame Starmer for the non-prosecution of serial sex offender Jimmy Savile when Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Two people, a man and a woman, were arrested after a traffic cone was thrown at police officers. Johnson tweeted that it was "absolutely disgraceful" and thanked the police for acting swiftly.[80]
Shayan Sardarizadeh for BBC Monitoring said that the protest was an attempt to recreate the Ottawa "freedom convoy" protests in the UK, and noted that the activists' references to Magna Carta indicated that the protesters were members of the sovereign citizen movement,[80] which Tim Hume in Vice UK says "has become a key strand of the UK's anti-lockdown movement".[81] Julian Smith, the former chief whip, and Simon Hoare were among Conservatives who called for Johnson to apologise. MP Kim Leadbeater and Brendan Cox, the sister and husband of murdered MP Jo Cox, warned against politicians lending credence to far-right conspiracy theories.[82][83] The following day, a Downing Street source said that Johnson still would not apologise for the slur against Starmer.[84]
Other[edit]
Secondary school protests[edit]
Protests at secondary schools were conducted in the summer of 2021, particularly by artist Remeece performing his "Dont Tek Di Vaccine" rap song on a portable speaker to children as they left school for the day.[86] These sparked Priti Patel to consider a ban which could be enforced by local councils.[87]