Protesters in London crowded around a car and blocked the road leading to Downing Street, the location of the British prime minister's residence, on Monday evening, with some shouting "arrest Bill Gates" and holding anti-vaccination placards.
Gates was in the U.K. capital to dine with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who invited 20 of the most influential business figures in the world to the event to help promote British interests internationally.
Footage on social media shows protesters bashing into an incoming car, trying to look through its tinted windows as police fought off the crowd.
Police eventually escorted the vehicle to another entrance to Downing Street. It is not known who was in the car.
The protest began late Monday afternoon and grew later into the evening.
About 6 p.m. local time, the crowd appeared to get rowdier, chanting loudly. As well as calling for Gates to be arrested, some demonstrators also called the Microsoft founder a "murderer" and holding up anti-COVID-19 vaccination signs, the Daily Express reported.
Gates, one of the world's richest men, has been at the center of unfounded conspiracy theories involving the COVID-19 pandemic and the development of a vaccine.
As well as Gates, Goldman Sachs boss, David Solomon, JP Morgan chief executive, Jamie Dimon, and Jes Staley, head of Barclays; also attended the meeting. Larry Fink, boss of the investment firm BlackRock; Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of the private equity firm Blackstone; and Ana Botín, the chair of Santander, also attended the Downing Street dinner.
The meeting took place before a Global Investment Summit, with about 300 business leaders invited to meet the Queen at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.
At the summit in London on Tuesday, Johnson took part in a panel discussion with Gates on global energy transition and the role of the private sector in fighting climate change. The event is taking place a couple of weeks before Britain hosts COP26, the UN climate change conference, in Glasgow.
In June, protesters in London called for Gates to be arrested as they gathered outside the U.K. headquarters of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of a larger protest against COVID-19 lockdown measures.
The Microsoft co-founder told Reuters in January that he was surprised to find himself as a subject of conspiracies along with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Among the unfounded claims made about the Microsoft founder was the idea that he wanted to use COVID vaccinations to implant microchips in people.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Jack Dutton is a Newsweek Reporter based in Cape Town, South Africa. His focus is reporting on global politics and ... Read more
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