UK marchers compare COVID-19 to ‘man flu’

Led by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s brother Piers, demonstrators chanted “stick your poison vaccine up your arse”, “take off your masks” and “we are the 99%” as they walked down Oxford Street, the main shopping street in central London.

Some carried placards blaming the virus on the new 5G network, while others claimed the virus itself was a hoax.

The protest came on the day that London was placed in Tier 2 lockdown measures, meaning Londoners are now banned from meeting people from outside their household indoors, and a maximum of six outdoors.

One of the organisers told a breakaway group outside Downing Street: “Man flu has closed our country and crushed our economy.”

The protests came as British public data published on Saturday announced 16,171 new cases of coronavirus within 24 hours, compared with 15,650 the previous day.

The infection rate has risen sharply in recent weeks, prompting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other regional leaders to introduce tighter restrictions and local lockdowns.

The data showed 150 new deaths from COVID-19, defined as having occurred within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test, compared to 136 on Friday.

Australian Associated Press