Arrest ordeal of royal ‘superfan’ at Coronation
Handcuffed and held for 13 hours — all because she sat close to eco-zealots
A royal ‘ superfan’ was handcuffed by police and detained for 13 hours after she happened to be standing near eco-protesters at the Coronation.
Alice Chambers, a 36-yearold Australian architect who has been living in London for seven years, said she often attended events to catch a glimpse of the Royal Family and had secured a position on The Mall early on the morning of the ceremony.
But a group of police officers began rounding up members of Just Stop Oil and mistakenly included her, ‘arresting me before they asked a question’, she said.
Her arrest, which was caught by Sky News cameras, was justified on ‘potential to cause a breach of the peace’, Ms Chambers was told.
She was not freed from Wandsworth police station in south London until 10pm that evening, after police finally took the time to question her – discovering that she had never heard of the environmental activism group, let alone belonged to it.
London’s Met Police said the mistake was made by counterparts from Lincolnshire Police who were tracing the Just Stop Oil activists.
‘I was just sitting on my little stool and I noticed there was some yelling and then some police swooped in and were pushing the crowd back,’ she told the i newspaper.
‘I must have been right on the edge of that, I went to get up and two police officers just grabbed me and handcuffed me. I don’t think they said anything, I think they arrested me before they asked a question.
‘I feel like once I was in the system they didn’t listen, I tried to explain that I wasn’t part of the group.’ After waiting hours to be interviewed, she was asked, ‘Why were you on The Mall?’.
‘I explained the whole thing, how I went down there at 7am to get a good spot, how I went one way and it was blocked and I ended up walking back to where there seemed to be some space.
‘They looked at each other and then they asked, “Have you ever heard of Just Stop Oil?”
‘I said, “Up until today no.” They said, “we have no further questions and we’re really sorry you’ve been caught up in this”.
‘That was the point I started crying and got emotional – that was the first time anyone had been able to listen to my side of the story.’ It was after 10pm by the time she was able to leave the station, having missed the ‘one-time event’ she had been looking forward to for months.
‘I was there at 7am to get a good spot’
‘Everyone on the Tube had had the most incredible day, and there’s me that had the complete opposite,’ she added.
The Met said that it made 52 arrests related to the Coronation, including for breaching the peace and conspiring to cause a public nuisance.
It has been under fire for its overzealous arrests of protesters and has said it ‘regrets’ the arrest of six anti-monarchy activists on the day of the ceremony who threatened it with legal action when no charges were brought.
But in Ms Chambers’ case the Met blamed another force.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘We are aware that a woman was arrested in relation to a protest on 6 May, 2023.
‘The arresting officer was from Lincolnshire Police and the complaint has therefore been passed to the relevant force to investigate. The Met will assist by providing any relevant information they require.’
The Met has said it ‘regrets’ the arrest of six anti-monarchy protesters on the day of the ceremony who threatened it with legal action when no charges were brought.