The measures have just been relaxed when thousands are protesting in London against the vaccination campaign. The sometimes degrading messages anger Mayor Khan.
London – On Saturday (July 24th, 2021), thousands of people gathered in London for a “rally for freedom” – five days after the English government lifted almost all corona restrictions in the country. According to media reports, these were apparently primarily supporters: inside of conspiracy myths. London’s Lord Mayor Sadiq Khan commented on the controversial messages of the protesters and defended the country’s health workers.
The rally was attended by Piers Corbyn, the brother of former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn. According to the online medium The Independent, Piers Corbyn tried to unite a speaking choir against the government. “Ping Off”, it said, a reference to the notification tone of the mobile phone app of the national health system NHS. It accompanies a notification to the app user (s) with the request to go into quarantine – either because you are infected with the coronavirus yourself or because you recently had close contact with another infected person. There is now talk of a “pingdemic” in this context.
Vaccination opponents: inside and conspiracy theorists protest in London
The empty shelves that are shaping the image of supermarkets in the UK these days are a clear indicator: many are adhering to the self-isolation requirement and therefore do not show up at work. Elsewhere, the garbage remains on the roadside, the police also announced longer waiting times for operations.
With “ping off”, Piers Corbyn means something else than saying goodbye to isolation with a note. Kindly translated, he calls on the government to stay away from him. So that’s behind the concept of freedom that Corbyn brings up here.
London: Mayor Khan condemns degrading statements by corona denier
Other participants in the demonstration understand freedom differently again. A former nurse called for the names of medical personnel to be collected and sent to her. Together with “a group of lawyers” she would collect them. This was followed by an unmistakable allusion to the Nuremberg Trials and an invitation to doctors and nurses to join them.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan found the statements of the nurse “absolutely horrific”. “I got it directly from the Met Police [the London Police; Note d. Red.] Addressed. Our NHS staff are the heroes of this pandemic and Londoners from across the city firmly reject this hatred, ”Khan wrote on Twitter.
| Corona in the UK | Status: 07/25/2021 |
| Incidence | 502.1 |
| Corona infected | 5,669,260 |
| Deaths | 153.070 |
| First vaccination | 88.0% |
| Second vaccination | 69.9% |
| Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ |
Protests against vaccination campaign in the UK and France
In addition to Piers Corbyn, conspiracy storytellers David Icke and Gillian McKeith were among the speakers in Trafalgar Square, as was right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins, who had only recently been deported from Australia after bragging about her violations of the quarantine rules there.
The vaccination campaign was also protested in Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester. In Dublin, 1,500 demonstrators gathered for a train through the city. There were also protests in France on Saturday against a new law that introduced vaccination certificates and compulsory vaccination for healthcare workers. (mp)
Picture list: © Mark Thomas / Imago
