LONDON • For weeks, central London has resembled a battle zone. People lying on the roads, refusing to move; others gluing themselves to buildings, bus stations or shop windows; demonstrators camping in Trafalgar Square, the heart of the British capital.

Some of these events were comical. What is one to make of the protester dressed as Prime Minister Boris Johnson scaling the 96m-high Big Ben parliamentary tower? And how about the rank of breastfeeding mothers who blockaded the European headquarters of Google, the technology company, in central London?