Thousands march for Kill the Bill protests on day of Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral

Thousands of protesters gathered across the country for the Kill the Bill march on the day of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.

Activists gathered in Hyde Park and marched to Parliament Square to protest against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, despite the Covid-19 lockdown and the funeral in Windsor.

The proposed legislation would give police in England and Wales more powers to impose conditions on non-violent protests – including those deemed too noisy or a nuisance, with those convicted liable to fines or jail terms.

Throughout Saturday, police dealt with what they said were “peaceful” Kill the Bill protests in areas including London, Brighton, Newcastle, Sheffield and Bristol.

Despite hundreds of people being arrested in past Kill the Bill clashes with police, the Met said as of 8pm there were no arrests.

Protesters shouted “Black Lives Matter” and “Boris Johnson is a racist” as they marched through Piccadilly passing a giant screen with a tribute to Prince Philip.

One speaker read out a “list of the names of victims of police violence” before the crowd held a ten-minute silence in their memory ignoring the national silence for Prince Philip at 3pm by the Cenotaph.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jane Connors, leading the operation, said: “Last Friday we were all deeply saddened to learn of the passing of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

“Saturday will be a solemn day for the nation, as His Royal Highness’ funeral takes place in Windsor. We will continue to operate a bespoke policing plan in place around Buckingham Palace and Westminster, to keep people safe and to disrupt criminality.

“We will also be deploying a number of officers ahead of a demonstration in central London. I must stress that we remain in a public health crisis and gathering in large numbers presents a real risk of transmitting Covid-19.

“We have attempted to make contact with the organisers of Saturday’s demonstration, to explain the rules which they are required to follow in order to make their gathering lawful.”

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