Protesters ejected from inquiry room
ANGRY campaigners who lost loved ones during the pandemic were removed after they mounted a protest at the hearing yesterday.
Boris Johnson’s apology for the ‘suffering of the Covid victims’ was interrupted, as four women held up signs saying ‘The dead can’t hear your apologies’.
Baroness Hallett, chairman of the inquiry, ordered ushers to remove them after they ignored her instructions to sit down and behave.
One of the protesters, Fran Hall, whose husband Steve died with Covid-19, told the BBC after being ejected: ‘Several of the volunteers who look after the National Covid Memorial Wall decided that we didn’t want to let Mr Johnson control the narrative.
‘He has been trying very hard with his leaks over the weekend, and we knew that he was going to attempt to apologise and we felt that it was necessary that he realise that we would not accept his apology. So we stood up, in the back row, silently and held up these signs.’
She added: ‘I think anything he has to say could have been said a long time ago. We are nearly four years since the beginning of the pandemic. People are continuing to die every week, so I don’t think he has got anything helpful to say at this point, other than to tell the truth about why decisions were made, and why failures happened in the chaos… at the heart of his government.’
Fellow protester Kathryn Butcher, who lost her sister-in-law, told reporters that Mr Johnson saw their signs. ‘He looked around once when Lady Hallett told us to sit down’, she said. ‘He looked at us quickly. He would have seen what the signs said.’
Mr Johnson arrived at Dorland House in Paddington, where the inquiry is being held, three hours early, while it was still dark.
Shortly after 5pm, Mr Johnson was greeted by loud boos from protesters who had gathered outside the venue, as he hopped into a waiting black car to leave.
Only days ago, ahead of Matt Hancock giving evidence, Mrs Hall was part of a group of campaigners who had wanted to hold a silent vigil outside the inquiry, but were moved from the entrance to avoid ‘intimidating’ the former health secretary.