UK police ‘remorse’ coronation day protests amid rights issues | Information

The chief of an anti-monarchist group and 5 different activists had been arrested as Charles III was making ready to be formally topped.

British police have expressed remorse over the arrests of the chief of an anti-monarchist group and 5 others on the coronation of King Charles, following criticism that the safety response was heavy-handed.

London’s Met Police mentioned they had been sorry that six of these arrested on the occasion had been prevented from protesting in the course of the coronation on Saturday. They’ve had their bail cancelled and no additional motion can be taken, the police assertion added.

“We remorse that these six folks arrested had been unable to hitch the broader group of protesters in Trafalgar Sq. and elsewhere on the procession route,” mentioned the assertion issued late on Monday.

Police had claimed the arrests had been made as a result of officers discovered “lock-on” objects – units protesters use to lock themselves in place tactically in order that police discover it arduous to take away them. However of their assertion, police mentioned they had been unable to show the protesters supposed to make use of the objects to lock themselves to positions on the coronation route.

The chief government of the stress group Republic, Graham Smith, who was one of many six protesters arrested, mentioned on Twitter that police had apologised to him in individual on Monday however he deliberate to speak to attorneys about taking authorized motion.

Republic mentioned the objects in query had been supposed for securing placards.

One man was additionally arrested for possession of a knife.

There have been greater than 11,000 police on the streets of central London for the coronation, the most important ceremonial occasion staged in London for 70 years, and a complete of 64 arrests had been made.

Whereas 1000’s lined the streets in London to rejoice the historic occasion, these protesting in opposition to the monarchy gathered close to the Charles I statue in Trafalgar Sq. within the English for a “Not my King” rally. Comparable demonstrations additionally came about in Glasgow in Scotland and Cardiff in Wales.

The civil rights group Liberty tweeted on Tuesday: “This embarrassing episode for the Met demonstrates the hazards of handing broad and poorly-defined powers to the police – who we all know by now are all too completely satisfied to make use of and abuse these powers.”

Republic mentioned in an announcement: “Our message is easy. As an alternative of a coronation we would like an election, as a substitute of Charles we would like a alternative.”

After Smith’s arrest, Republic tweeted: “A whole bunch of placards had been seized. Is that this democracy?”

Buckingham Palace has but to touch upon the arrests.

On Saturday, royal biographer Christopher Wilson mentioned King Charles III has seen protests all through his life.

“He, I believe, is a real democrat who believes in freedom of speech,” Wilson advised Al Jazeera.

“The Republic motion is just not in any method a terrorist motion. It’s merely a voice of protest and so they have a proper to free speech. In spite of everything, Britain is meant to be the cradle of democracy. Free speech has one of many nice tenets of our life,” Wilson mentioned.