London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Anti-face mask protesters in London say they won't be 'tracked or poisoned'

Around 100 people have gathered in Hyde Park today to protest against face coverings becoming mandatory in shops next week.
The rules are already in place in Scotland, with England due to follow suit on July 24. From that date, anyone not wearing a mask inside a store can be asked to leave or made to pay a £100 fine by the police.

Those attending the demonstration could be seen wearing masks cut up to expose their mouths and carrying placards that read: ‘I will not be masked, tested, tracked or poisoned. This will not be my new normal’.

One man was photographed wearing a white t-shirt that said: ‘Save human rights, no to 5G, no to vaccinations’, while another woman had the words ‘question everything’ emblazoned on the front of her top.

Appearing on Sky News, Leah Butler-Smith, one of the protest organisers, explained that she wasn’t against face masks in general, but did not like the government telling people ‘they have no choice but to wear one’.

She went on: ‘Because the government started out by saying there was absolutely no way there was any need for a mask, and many other independent scientists have repeatedly said the same, then it didn’t make sense why they were suddenly going to be mandated – but only in some places.

‘Shop workers who are being exposed to the public all the time don’t have to wear them but the person going into the shop is expected to wear it. It just doesn’t make any sense. You can be in the same venue and be told not wear it and then told to.’

Ms Butler-Smith then accused the government of trying to ‘deliberately frighten people’ and she said she thought ministers ‘absolutely’ had an ulterior motive to making masks compulsory.

She continued: ‘I believe because they have spent an enormous amount of money on the vaccine programme already, which has already been tested in other countries, that they don’t want to waste that money by people choosing not to take up the vaccine because they’ve decided that actually, the virus has passed through the community and now, unless you’re very at risk, you’re just as safe as you would be if it were a normal flu.’

Ms Butler-Smith is part of Keep Britain Free, an online campaign which claims the government is in ‘contravention of basic Human Rights’ after forcing businesses to close and people to stay home during the coronavirus lockdown.

The group believes that ‘every aspect’ of UK life is now being ‘controlled by draconian rules and regulations’, with Brits told ‘how many friends we can have; whose houses we can visit; where we can travel – even what to think’.

Their demonstration comes after the Health Secretary confirmed the new rules surrounding face asks in shops this week, telling the public: ‘We cannot let our progress today lead to complacency tomorrow’.

Stating that face coverings will ‘increase confidence in people to shop’, Matt Hancock went on: ‘Sales assistants, cashiers and security guards have suffered disproportionately in this crisis.

‘The death rate of sales and retail assistants is 75% higher amongst men and 60% higher amongst women than in the general population.’
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×