Anti-vaccine protesters storm BBC headquarters—almost a decade after it moved out of the building

An anti-vaxxer protest hilariously flopped even before it began this week when protesters tried to storm what they thought was the headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation. While the anti-lockdown group known as "Official Voice" brought what appears to have been their full force to the demonstration, it seemingly slipped their minds to double-check the address. According to The Guardian, the BBC moved out of the targeted building—the west London Television Center—almost a decade ago. It has since been converted into luxury apartments and a private members' club. The handful of studios remaining is predominantly rented by ITV to film its daytime shows such as Good Morning Britain and This Morning.

Although the BBC has retained three studios on the site under its commercial for-profit Studioworks arm, these are also largely rented to other broadcasters and are the permanent base for many of ITV's shows. Meanwhile, since the corporation moved out of the Television Center in 2013, the vast majority of London-based BBC staff and its news operation are based five miles away at the Broadcasting House on Portland Place. Several videos shared on social media show protesters attempting to force their way into the Television Center while shouting "shame on you, shame on you," and accusing BBC of "not giving out the right information."

One demonstrator was also heard shouting that "they are coming for our f****** children," which is likely to be a reference to children's COVID-19 vaccinations. Among the protesters was Piers Corbyn, the brother of the former Labour party leader, who was recorded on one live stream saying "we've got to take over these ba***rds." According to Indy100, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson stated that they were "aware of a group of demonstrators who, having set off from Shepherds Bush Green shortly after 1 pm" were later "gathered outside commercial premises in Wood Lane, White City."

 
"There have been no arrests but officers are in attendance and will continue to monitor the situation," they added. Charlene White, the co-host of Loose Women—a British talk show similar to The View—was filming at the location during the protest and thanked the security team who kept protesters out of the studio. "Not sure what protesters were hoping to achieve, but all they would've found was me, Jane, Nadia, and Penny on 'Loose Women' talking about the menopause," she said. Many took to Twitter to express their amusement at the protesters' ironic mistake, which once again proved the "reliability" of where they get their information from.

Even the ever-outspoken former ITV commentator and right-wing pundit Piers Morgan—who credits the Astra-Zeneca vaccine for saving his life after contracting COVID-19—mocked the protesters. "It's ITV HQ now, you f***ing imbeciles," he tweeted. The comment provoked an angry response from former Coronation Street actor and anti-vaxxer Sean Ward, who was reportedly part of the wayward mob. "Imbeciles? No, worried mother's (sic) and fathers actually!" Ward replied, reports Global News.

"You're the ex-Corrie cretin who told everyone not to get vaccinated, right? Somehow, I doubt an unhinged, selfish, stupid Z-list actor knows more than the world's finest scientists - so stop peddling your conspiracy theory sh*t & shut up before you cost lives," Morgan shot back. The whole incident also brought about some hilarious memes that mocked the protestors' clearly unreliable research and sources.