Protesters: We will sue for wrongful arrests hell
AN anti-monarchy protester who was wrongly arrested at the Coronation has refused to accept an apology from the Metropolitan Police and vowed to take legal action.
The force expressed “regret” over the arrests of six members from the campaign group Republic on Saturday using draconian new laws.
Chief executive Graham Smith, one of the six, said he has now received a personal apology from police officers.
Mr Smith said a chief inspector and two other officers visited his home in Reading, Berks, on Monday evening to speak to him.
He said: “They seemed rather embarrassed to be honest. I said for the record I won’t accept the apology.
“We have a lot of questions to answer and we will be taking action.”
The Met said a review found there was no proof the six protesters, who were detained when their vehicle was stopped near the procession route, were planning to “lock on”, a tactic now banned.
But Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley defended the operation as whole. In total 52 suspects were held over the weekend due to concerns of disruption to the Coronation.
He said “rapidly developing” intelligence suggested some demonstrators had conspired to use rape alarms and loudhailers to cause distress to military horses, while others, he claimed, plotted to throw paint at the procession.