Anti-vaxxer condemned for comparing NHS to Nazis at Trafalgar Square rally

The mayor of London Sadiq Khan describes Kate Shemirani’s comments as ‘utterly appalling’

An former nurse and anti-vaccine campaigner has been condemned for comparing NHS workers to the Nazis.

Kate Shemirani, who was was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in June for spreading false information about Covid, has come under fire from healthcare professionals over comments she made at the “Worldwide Rally for Freedom” in Trafalgar Square on Saturday.

In videos footage of the speech, Ms Shemirani says: “Ask those that are giving (the Covid vaccine), has there been any deaths.

“Ask them what is in it. Ask them, get their names, you email them to me … with a group of lawyers we are collating that.

“At the Nuremberg trials, the doctors and nurses stood trial and they hung.”

She is then seen with a hand in the air as the crowd cheers.

She continued: “If you are a doctor or a nurse, now is the time to get off that bus, get off it and stand with us, the people”.

Her words drew sharp criticism from doctors, nurses, NHS staff, coronavirus patients and the Mayor of London.

Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, shared a video of Ms Shemirani’s speech on Twitter, saying: “I can’t believe I’m tweeting this. As an ICU doctor who has given everything they have trying to save lives this makes me want to cry.”

NHS Million, an account run by frontline NHS staff tweeted yesterday: “This is what NHS staff woke up to this morning. A rally talking about hanging doctors and nurses. This has caused considerable distress amongst NHS staff.”

Kate Jarman, The director of corporate affairs at Milton Keynes University Hospital said that Ms Shemirani’s Nazi-comparison was not an isolated event.

She tweeted: “We’ve had letters accusing us of genocide, I’ve had similar over social media, I expect every doctor, nurse and NHS employee who has any kind of social media/ public profile has. It’s abhorrent”.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, called the speech “utterly appalling”. On Twitter, he said that he had raised the issue with the Met Police, adding: “Our NHS staff are the heroes of this pandemic and Londoners from across this city roundly reject this hate”.

At the end of the rally on Saturday, Met Police said that six arrests had been made throughout the “mostly peaceful” demonstration.