ANTI-LOCKDOWN PROTESTERS have thrown tennis balls at the English Parliament and Downing Street as thousands joined a demonstration in central London.

Chanting and whistling crowds carrying placards marched through the city centre towards Parliament Square today.

Hundreds of tennis balls, some bearing protest messages, were hurled over the fences surrounding the Houses of Parliament.

Protesters let off flares and also threw tennis balls outside Downing Street, with some shouting “shame on you” and pointing towards Number 10, followed by booing.

Asked why protesters were throwing tennis balls, one man, who did not wish to be named, said: “They have little messages on them. Most of them are not very nice.”

Protesters, many not wearing masks, carried placards bearing anti-vaccine and anti-restrictions messages, while others waved flags.

Iain McCausland, who travelled to London from Devon, said: “The main reason I’m here is because I feel this lockdown has come at the cost of our liberty and rights.

“Our freedom to assemble, our freedom to travel and work. I’m really quite angry with the Government, so are everyone here.”

Kayleigh Brooke, 29, from Manchester, said she has been camping for four weeks on Clapham Common, south London, in protest at the vaccine rollout.

“We want the Coronavirus Act 2020 gone, and we will keep on protesting until that happens,” she said.

A man who only gave his name as Gareth, 29, from Walthamstow, north-east London, said: “I’m on the march because I feel that the Government is over-reaching and its response to a threat has been far beyond what’s necessary.”