New measures by the UK government to prevent the spread of Covid19 have caused widespread outrage.
The latest from Prime minister Boris Johnson is nightclubs will need proof of vaccine for entry.
Elsewhere in France they have already started checking tourists for “Covid passes” which human rights groups say raises concerns.
BBC STUDIOSWORKS
Regular protest have took place throughout lockdown in England and the numbers have grown with each gathering.
Dozens of arrests were made at protests in Central London in July.
A miscommunication today resulted in protestors turning up at the wrong “BBC HQ” building.
Studioworks is mainly apartments now.
Anti “covid pass” protesters attempted to storm a studio at BBC Television Centre in west London.
They are believed to be protesting against vaccine passports and vaccines for children, attempting to enter the complex in White City.
The footage appeared to show dozens of demonstrators gathering at nearby Shepherds Bush Green before marching on the building.
The crowd is then seen in footage outside Television Centre, where it is met by a heavy police presence.
There was some pushing between police and protestors and tensions were high.
No arrests were made at the time of filming.
Wrong building
Television Centre was the headquarters of BBC Television until 2013, when broadcasting ceased after production of shows was moved to several other sites across the UK, including Broadcasting House in central London and Media City in Salford.
Much of the complex has since been converted into residential apartments.
The building protesters attempted to enter was that of BBC Studioworks, a commercial arm of the corporation which has retained and operated several studios at the site since 2017.
BBC Studioworks currently sublets two of its studios at Television Centre to ITV for the production of daytime programmes including Good Morning Britain and Lorraine.
Met Police spokesperson said: “We are aware of a group of demonstrators who, having set off from Shepherds Bush Green shortly after 13:00hrs, are now gathered outside commercial premises in Wood Lane, White City.
A BBC spokesperson said the corporation does not comment on security matters.
Right building
Eventually the protestors located the right HQ and began chanting outside.
As always in London you can rely on it to rain.
Police put up barricades while the crowds grew and one man tried to explain his actions to the police and convince them to join in the protest.
Protestors then grab the railings and try to remove them while police struggle.
Another male attempts to get the crowds attention and bring some order to the mass gathering.
Repeatedly he says ” this is pointless, this is what they wan’t us do”
The unknown male shouts into the crowd ” we are here to represent the 2 million who couldn’t make it here today”
“we are being live streamed, chill out, don’t let them gaslight us and run in there like dumb heads”
Uk rules
New Government rules will mean adults who can show they are fully vaccinated can avoid quarantine when returning from amber list countries.
Demonstrating your Covid status may also be needed to go to nightclubs and some other venues in England, from the end of September.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that English nightclubs and other venues with large crowds will require patrons to present proof of full vaccination from the end of September.
Clubbers enjoyed the reopening of clubs and bars across the UK last month and the first live music events without restrictions since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The government reopened nightclubs and dropped almost all coronavirus measures in England in hope that mass vaccinations will prevent another deadly wave of COVID-19.
Johnson announced that people who were not fully vaccinated, including those who had not had both doses of two-shot immunizations, would be barred from nightclubs.
The decision follows large outbreaks linked to nightclubs in other countries such as the Netherlands and Israel, where authorities were forced to close them again.
“I can serve notice now that by the end of September when all over 18s will have had their chance to be double jabbed, we’re planning to make full vaccination the condition of entry to nightclubs and other venues where large crowds gather,” Johnson told a press conference.
Worldwide
Similar protests against covid passes are happening in New York and France.
In France retired university professor Bruno Courcelle was among the large and diverse crowd that took to the streets over two consecutive weekends to protest the French government’s new COVID-19 vaccine policies.
“I am against vaccination both for medical reasons – especially safety and weak safeguards – and political reasons because the vaccine is imposed on us,” Courcelle said to Euronews.
“And if you are against the vaccine, you are logically against mandatory vaccination.”
Under a new law adopted by the French Parliament on Monday, vaccination will become mandatory for health workers while citizens will need to bring in a health pass for most public places, including restaurants and cafés.
Courcelle has launched an online petition to boycott all businesses applying the health pass, which has received hundreds of signatures so far.
“It leads to a society of generalised surveillance” and to “discrimination” between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, he said.
President Emmanuel Macron and his government say the new rules are needed to curb a spike in new infections fueled by the more contagious Delta variant.
But protests against the controversial measures have gained momentum, with 100,000 people marching throughout the country on July 17 and about 160,000 on Saturday.
At the Paris march, a 39-year-old hospital laboratory worker said she might resort to buying a fake vaccination certificate to avoid losing her job.
A health care worker dressed as the Statue of Liberty called it an “act of violence” to force people to get vaccinated.
Several French medical doctors have played a prominent role in the anti-vax movement. Louis Fouché, for instance, an ICU doctor in Marseille, has founded ReinfoCovid, a group of medical professionals sceptical of coronavirus vaccination and other pandemic policies.
The group says it has received “a very large number of requests to join” and “our ranks are getting bigger by the hour” since President Emmanuel Macron announced the new rules earlier this month.
Thousands of people answered calls to take to the streets by Florian Philippot, a fringe far-right politician and former right hand of Marine Le Pen who announced earlier this month that he would run in the 2022 presidential election.
Following a long pandemic break, yellow vest protesters have returned to the streets to protest the government’s COVID-19 pass and what they see as a “health dictatorship.”
Several calls to demonstrate were issued on the movement’s Facebooks pages.
The movement began in the autumn of 2018 in protest against a fuel tax hike, which demonstrators said punished the poorest French people.
On Saturday, two journalists working for public broadcaster France 2 were chased and beaten by protesters in the southern city of Marseille. A fellow reporter showed footage of the incident on social media.
Vandals targeted two vaccination centres in southwest France last weekend. One was set on fire, and another was covered in graffiti, including a reference to the Nazi occupation of France
New York
Demonstrators rallied on August 9 against New York City’s upcoming COVID-19 vaccination mandate, which would require proof of at least one vaccine dose for entry to indoor restaurants, gyms, and performances.
This video recorded by Brendan Gutenschwager shows protesters in City Hall Park, holding anti-vaccine placards and chanting “we will not comply.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on August 3 that the “Key to NYCPass” would go into effect the week of August 16. The pass requires “vaccination for workers and customers in indoor dining, in indoor fitness facilities, indoor entertainment facilities,” de Blasio said.
“Our strategy is vaccine-centric,” added de Blasio. “Anything and everything we do is to support vaccination. Anything less than vaccination isn’t going to get us where we need to go.”
