"A total of 12 arrests were made while policing tonight's demonstrations across London. Those arrests were for a variety of offences. Eight of our officers were injured. This is unacceptable," police wrote on their Twitter page.
The policing operation is still underway.
Police officers block off Oxford Street to control an anti-capitalist demonstration, the 'Million Mask March', organised by the group Anonymous, in London on November 5, 2020.
© AFP 2023 / NIKLAS HALLE'N
Late Friday evening, the protesters burnt an effigy of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Trafalgar Square. Some participants demanded the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, wanted by the United States over alleged espionage, while others demanded the cancellation of COVID-19 vaccination passports.
Since 2013, the Anonymous movement has held its march every year on November 5, Guy Fawkes Day, in commemoration of the events of 1605, when the members of the Gunpowder Plot attempted to blow up the House of Lords. Thanks to the 2005 movie V for Vendetta, the Guy Fawkes mask became a symbol of riot and resistance, as well as the Anonymous movement itself.