UK lawmaker demands answers over arrest of elderly protestor outside parliament

Video footage shows three police officers lifting a person into a police vehicle, while Conservative lawmaker Charles Walker watched on, calling the arrest an outrage and telling the officers: "You must have mothers!" Police said they had made three arrests in the area for breaching coronavirus restrictions after a group of people had gathered to protest, which is against current lockdown rules.

A British lawmaker demanded answers from Prime Minister Boris Johnson after an elderly female protestor was carried into the back of a police van outside parliament, in what he called an unconstitutional and undignified arrest. Video footage shows three police officers lifting a person into a police vehicle, while Conservative lawmaker Charles Walker watched on, calling the arrest an outrage and telling the officers: "You must have mothers!"

Police said they had made three arrests in the area for breaching coronavirus restrictions after a group of people had gathered to protest, which is against current lockdown rules. "Police engaged with those present and explained the current restrictions around gatherings of more than two people," a police statement said. It said those arrested had refused to comply with instructions.

Walker, a prominent critic of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's lockdown policy, raised the issue in parliament shortly after. "This is a disgrace. This is un-British, it is unconstitutional," Walker said. "She was an old lady robbed of her dignity for having the courage to protest about having her fundamental rights, and those of my constituents and others, removed."