BY CHRIS HOBBS
Photos by Chris Hobbs - taken at Clapham Common where the anti-vaxxers ended their march.
Just months ago, tens of thousands of protesters who had left Hyde Park Corner and were headed towards Speakers Corner, looked to their left into the park itself and saw tens of thousands more heading across the park to join those still queueing to leave. It was a remarkable sight; I know because I used my now notorious lack of photographic skill to capture the scene.
Last Saturday, saw yet another protest. The themes are complex and ever-changing and, broadly, seem to have moved from Covid is a hoax, to anti-Lockdown, to anti-vaccine and now, given that the overwhelming majority of the adult populace have been ‘jabbed,’ to opposing children being vaccinated. Mixed in with these themes are others, such as 5G ‘radiation,’ a Global establishment conspiracy, Bill Gates and QAnon satanic child abuse.
On this occasion, for yet another street march, numbers were, by the participant’s own calculations, well down to around 5,000. The build up saw ‘secrecy’ from the organisers in refusing to publicise the route thus ‘wrong-footing’ the police. Of course, it really makes little difference to the policing operation and did attract criticism from those who were unable to join the protest at its meeting point, namely Hyde Park Corner.
What was now a mystery tour to everyone, again, as occurred just weeks ago, ended up south of the river via Vauxhall. The Met building at Cobalt Square was doubtless a familiar sight to escorting Met officers and whilst the route took the marchers through Wandsworth as opposed to Brixton, the destination was the same, namely Clapham Common.
As the march approached Clapham Common, three TSG carriers were parked by the side of the road and the reason soon became clear when officers arrested one of the marchers; probably an individual who had earlier been identified as being wanted.
The suspect didn’t create any problems but the arrest inevitably drew an abusive crowd who were again in the faces of TSG officers hurling insults before moving off towards the Common.
Clapham Common and the disco truck
There was a surprise promised to marchers by the organisers when promoting the protest and parked on Clapham Common was a large articulated ‘disco’ truck complete with a very powerful sound system plus a vocal female DJ, both of whom could clearly be heard in the surrounding houses and businesses.
Whilst some of the marchers quickly left, others enjoyed the music and danced in front of the stage before the inevitable speeches, which was to be followed by more music.
Early on during the proceedings kitted L2 officers with helmets clipped, lined up on one side of the disco watching proceedings. At this point it seemed a distinct possibility that the organisers had simply moved a large vehicle onto the common without permission and, again without any sort of permission, began playing music at a prohibitively loud volume.
As more police carriers appeared, it became obvious that that there was an issue in respect of what had become an Unlicensed Music Event (UME). Clearly the Met were concerned as to the possibility of a repeat of the incident some months previously in Hyde Park when officers, attempting to shut down a sound system, were violently attacked.
When police action came on this occasion, it was swift and decisive. A serial moved to form cordons in front and to the sides of the truck. Other serials formed up on the edge of common, one of which was equipped with shields. The crowd’s reaction was one of anger and, as seems typical of anti-vax protesters across the world, were immediately in the faces of officers hurling abuse. Two ‘full’ cans of beer were thrown but passed harmlessly over the heads of both protesters and officers. It looked as it the other police serials would be required, but officers in the cordon were vigorously ‘engaging’ with those protesters explaining that this had become a UME.
Surprisingly, many in the crowd accepted the police explanation and moved away from the truck. Familiar faces continued arguing but also gradually moved away. The crew could be seen packing up and eventually, assisted by the police, the truck reversed out of its location and moved away from the common.
The situation then took a bizarre turn as the officers in the serial that had shut down the truck, split into pairs ad circulated amongst the crowd. Unexpectedly, in most, but not all cases, the officers were well received. Generally amicable conversations were taking place as the sun began to set.
Officers massed, in reserve, on the edge of the Common and who had spent some time being ridiculed by a well- known individual with a megaphone, returned to their carriers.
Recriminations
Whilst the day would, quite rightly, be regarded as a success by the Met, there was and is, considerable fallout and rancour amongst the ranks of anti-vaxxers. Many felt that wondering around the streets on tiring, repetitive marches was a waste of time and costing them support. Others felt that it was inappropriate that the march concerned with such a serious topic, should end with participants having a party.
Some individuals, however, supported the tactic, claiming that members of the public on the routes had been sympathetic and the march had help gain increased public support. All seemed to agree that their numbers had dramatically declined over the summer months.
There were also calls by some for more vigorous action and it was pointed out that this was one of a number of protests around the country. Indeed, footage from Brighton of anti-vaxxers outside the Labour party conference, showed volatile individuals normally seen at London protests.
Although a further similar march/protest isn’t due until the end of October, anti-vaxxers have made it clear that they intend to target the London Marathon on Sunday using placards which will be visible to the TV cameras covering the event.
However, former Health Secretary Matt Hancock is supposed to be taking part, raising money for a hospice and the anti-vaxxers are well aware of that fact. If he runs, the Met will surely be concerned for his safety.
Youthful climate strikers.
The day before the anti-vaxxers took to the streets, schoolchildren and students were urged to strike in support of the global climate change campaign. This was supported by Extinction Rebellion.
Before the pandemic, these strikes/protests attracted thousands of young people to Westminster. On this occasion, barely 400 assembled on Parliament Square.
After several speeches they took to the streets but fears that this would another anti-vax type trudge for miles proved unfounded. Their route did take them past the Home Office where there was a somewhat uneasy meeting with about 50 animal rights protesters complaining about the plight of laboratory beagles.
The march then returned to Parliament Square via Millbank and, surprisingly, didn’t even incorporate Downing Street on their travels.
In fairness, these young people were impeccably behaved throughout. There was no abuse of, or indeed any hostility towards the officers policing the event. Traffic disruption was kept to a minimum and there was never any indication that these youthful protesters would emulate their XR/Insulate older cousins and disrupt members of the public going about their business.
Satisfaction and explanation.
All in all, those at the top of the Met would be very satisfied on Monday as reports of these events ended up in their inbox. Perhaps, however, they and senior officers from forces who police the M25 need to explain in detail that it is not possible to react immediately to unexpected protests, by immediately providing sufficient officers, transport for both officers and prisoners together with adequate custody spaces.
They also should explain that policing elsewhere in their force areas doesn’t come to a halt when one incident grabs all the headlines and that police are not responsible for the weak legislation which doesn’t reflect the level of disruption caused.
At the time of writing, it remains to be seen how effective the recent High Court injunctions will be in curbing disruptive protest.