Manchester Evening News

Corbyn’s brother leads rally against lockdown

- By ASHLIE BLAKEY

JEREMY Corbyn’s brother led an anti-lockdown march in the city centre yesterday.

Piers Corbyn was one of around 500 people who marched through Manchester in another protest against lockdown regulation­s.

The protesters marched through the city centre, starting in Piccadilly Gardens at around midday. The crowd went down Market Street, into St Peter’s Square before returning to hold speeches in Piccadilly Gardens.

The crowd cheered as the 73-year-old brother of the former Labour leader said he was recently handed an absolute discharge at court after he was found guilty of breaching Covid-19 restrictio­ns at an anti-lockdown gathering in May.

In his speech yesterday, Piers Corbyn, a prominent anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist, chanted ‘freedom, freedom’ and said ‘we are at war with vaccinatio­ns’. Signs could be seen in the crowd which had written on them ‘say no to the vaccine’, ‘no gestapo policing’, and ‘this is tyranny’.

Vaccinatio­ns started being rolled out to the most vulnerable in Greater Manchester and the UK this week as the country’s death figures from Covid-19 went over 60,000. The government has said vaccinatio­ns will not be mandatory.

Councillor Pat Karney, tweeting about yesterday’s march, said: “They came from all over the country and marched on Market St. Now being addressed by that fountain of enlightenm­ent Piers Corbyn.

“Had grown men tell me I will regret it when I am chipped and Bill Gates can kill me. Manchester Council will call out all this dangerous nonsense.”

Yesterday’s protest is at least the third anti-lockdown march in Manchester over the past few weeks.

 ??  ?? Piers Corbyn leading yesterday’s anti-lockdown rally in Manchester
Piers Corbyn leading yesterday’s anti-lockdown rally in Manchester

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