ON THURSDAY evening Essex Police facilitated a peaceful protest in Epping.

A police spokesperson said: “A group formed outside the Bell Hotel from around 5pm and then, facilitated by our officers, marched to a local school before a section of the group returned to the original protest site.

A Section 60AA order was in place which gave our officers the power to direct people to remove face coverings or face arrest.

A designated area for the protest activity was also put in place to allow people to demonstrate safely.

A small section of the group which had returned to the designated site walked out of the that area. Officers engaged with them and directed them to return to the designated protest area which they did shortly after.

“The protest activity had concluded by around 8.30pm”.