This footage shows the moment a group of anti-maskers entered a Tesco supermarket without face coverings:
Around 30 people walked around the store in Chelmsford, Essex, in what has been dubbed a 'selfish' protest.
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The clip was filmed and took place on Saturday (27 March) and was posted on Twitter by the account Lawyers for Liberty alongside the caption: "A group in Chelmsford organised a mass mask-free shopping trip."
According to The Sun, the event was described as 'a perfect way to peacefully protest while buying your weekly groceries'.
In the comments on the video, one person wrote: "Always find it funny how these people always wait until the lowest infection rate in a spike before doing daft stuff like this. I mean, you never see these 'protests' on a day with 45k+ infections. Stop mistaking being bored for being oppressed."
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Another commented: "This is reckless endangerment as the virus has NOT GONE I've lost 6 people to it - this is morally abhorrent right now!!!! And 230 NHS staff died - what were you thinking???"
NHS Million, an unofficial campaign group set up by NHS staff, shared the video on their Twitter account asking for anyone to identify any of the people taking part as well as tagging Essex Police in the post.
They wrote: "This is a slap in the face to all NHS staff who have worked themselves into the ground and risked their own lives to keep people save. Organising a maskless shopping trip is not big, not clever but it is illegal."
A Tesco spokesperson said the group told staff they were medically exempt from wearing face coverings.
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A statement read: "Since the start of the pandemic, we have focused on ensuring everyone can get the food they need in a safe environment.
"To protect our customers and colleagues, we won't let anyone into our stores who is not wearing a face covering, unless they are exempt in line with Government guidance.
"We are also asking our customers to shop alone, unless they're a carer or with children.
"To support our colleagues, we will have additional security in stores to help manage this."
Essex Police also commented on the protest, saying: "We were called to Tesco in Princes Road, Chelmsford, just after 12.30pm on Saturday 27 March, following a report of a large group of around 20-30 people entering the store together and not wearing masks. When asked by staff to wear masks, they refused.
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"They left the store several minutes later and, when our officers arrived on scene, the group were in the car park.
"We engaged with them and encouraged them to leave the area. Enforcement is a last resort for our officers, but one man was issued with a fixed penalty notice and a ticket for driving whilst using a mobile phone.
"No further concerns were raised and the group left the area.
"We would encourage anyone who has information about Covid breaches to continue to report them to us and we will respond to keep people safe.
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"We'd like to thank the majority of Essex residents, who have been working hard to keep themselves and others safe throughout the pandemic."
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@L4L_UKTopics: UK News, News, Coronavirus, UK