16 nabbed in anti-lockdown protests in London

Around 16 people were arrested and 22 fixed penalty notices were issued on Saturday afternoon after a crowd of anti-lockdown protesters marched on south London, reported Xinhua, quoting local media Sunday.

A group of around 30 people took to Clapham High Street on Saturday afternoon chanting "take your freedom back", according to some British media reports.

They were arrested and fined for breaking the restriction rules designed to stem the spread of the coronavirus in London and other parts of the country, said the police.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel defended the police crackdown on those COVID-19 rules breakers in south London, underlining the "need for strong enforcement" of the lockdown rules.

The protest took place after London mayor Sadiq Khan declared a "major incident" as the rising tide of coronavirus cases threatens to "overwhelm" the British capital's hospitals.

Another 59,937 coronavirus cases had been recorded on Saturday, compared to Friday's record of 68,053, the official data showed.

The new cases on Saturday brought the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,017,409, the data showed.

Britain had reported more than 80,000 coronavirus-related deaths after another 1,035 were recorded, official figures showed Saturday. The total number of deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test stood at 80,868 in Britain on Saturday.

This means that Britain has hit another two grim milestones in the pandemic as total coronavirus cases passed 3 million and total coronavirus-related deaths topped 80,000.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the pandemic began in the country. To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.