Off the web and out in force: who are the anti-lockdown brigade?

When the BBC journalist Nick Watt was harassed and threatened by anti-lockdown activists as he made his way through the Westminster last week, the footage was shocking. Who were these spittle-flecked furies menacing Newsnight’s political editor?

Though a large majority of Britons continue to support pandemic restrictions, the anti-lockdown movement has become increasingly ferocious in its opposition.

What is particularly worrying analysts of online radicalism is the way opposition to the restrictions has fused with a wider set of conspiracy theories online. It’s not just quarantine energising this group, but QAnon too. A constellation of fringe antivax, anti-government and antisemitic theories is inspiring increasingly radical behaviour.

Adherents include people such as Martin Hockridge, the 57-year-old gardener from Harpenden who was charged last week with