Picnic protesters warned of arrest
NICOLA Sturgeon has warned people they will be arrested if they go for a picnic in public to protest against the lockdown. The First Minister said anyone going to a park in order to eat outside would be ‘breaking the law’ and could expect police to act accordingly. Her comments were made in response to flyers circulating on social media, advertising ‘unified peaceful mass gatherings’ at parks around the UK this Saturday to protest against the continued lockdown restrictions. Some refer to planned gatherings at locations in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.
The flyers urge participants to ‘bring a picnic’ and declare: ‘We say no to the Coronavirus Bill, no to mandatory vaccines, no to the new normal, and no to the unlawful lockdown.’
Police have warned that such gatherings would breach lockdown rules.
At her daily coronavirus briefing yesterday, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘In terms of the so-called protests – I know there has been material circulating on social media – I’d say two things:
Firstly, anyone that goes to a picnic in the park right now will be breaking the law... I’ve got every confidence the police will apply and enforce the law. So you’d be breaking the law, which is one good reason not to do it.
‘But the other, perhaps even more important, reason not to do it is you’ll be putting people’s lives at risk.’
Her message to anyone unhappy about the lockdown was, ‘we’re all fed up with it’.
But she stressed: ‘We’re having to do it for the right reasons and if you do that [flout the rules], it is not an exaggeration to say you could be putting people’s lives at risk. Don’t be that
person that knowingly puts someone’s life on the line. It’s not worth it, so please don’t do it.’
Flyers for other protests to be held in parks in cities across England, including Manchester, Leicester and Southampton, as well as the ones in Scotland, have also emerged.
Even though lockdown is slightly eased in England, the rules on physical distancing mean no large-scale gatherings are permitted. People are allowed to meet just one other person from outside their household at a time, and must keep two metres apart.
America has seen protests spring up around several states demanding an end to lockdown but so far they have not emerged in the UK, although police broke up a protest by around 50 people in Westminster on Saturday.