Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DIVIDED NATION
52 held as party hit by protests
A TOTAL of 52 arrests were made by officers policing the Coronation as some 2,000 protesters targeted the royal procession yesterday.
Graham Smith, head of anti-monarchy group Republic, was held near Trafalgar Square in Central London just after 7am, hours before the King and Queen rode to Westminster Abbey in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach for the ceremony.
Yellow-clad anti-monarchists booed as the carriage rolled past, shouting “down the crown” and “get a real job” as flag-waving royal fans tried to drown them out by singing the national anthem and chanting: “He’s my King!”
The Metropolitan Police said they seized lock-on devices designed to stop protesters being moved – though this was denied by demonstrators.
Six republicans were arrested while unloading placards near the Coronation procession route hours before it began.
Matt Turnbull, one of those held, said straps on the placards had been “misconstrued” as lock-on devices and added: “We were never going to be allowed to be a visible force here. They were going to find a way to stop this.”
Some 13 Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested on The Mall at 10am just before the King and Queen rode past on their way from Buckingham Palace. Footage online showed the activists being handcuffed and carried away.
Five more from the group were held near Downing
Street and one at Piccadilly.
Protesters were directed away from the Embankment, near the Abbey, with one claiming police had told them the area was blocked for anti-terror
DEMO Protester in London reasons. Republicans had gathered on Trafalgar Square, near where Admiralty Arch opens on to The Mall.
We heard a senior police chief order his officers to arrest anyone with a megaphone. He added: “We can de-arrest them later if we need to.”
Veteran campaigner Peter Tatchell said: “This isn’t right. This obscuring of our protest is an infringement of our rights and goes against everything the police promised beforehand.”
Republic director Harry Stratton described the police response as “completely over the top”.
Human rights group Liberty said: “Protest is a fundamental right, not a gift from the state. This sets a dangerous precedent for us as a democratic nation.”
Human Rights Watch called the arrests “incredibly alarming”, adding: “This is something you’d expect to see in Moscow, not London.”
The Met said at least four people were held on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance near Trafalgar Square hours before the Coronation.
The force said 32 arrests in the day’s policing – codenamed Operation Golden Orb – were on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance, a new offence under controversial powers that came in last year, and 15 “to prevent a breach of the peace” near the route. Others were for non-protest-related crimes, including sexual assault.
Commander Karen Findlay said: “We have a duty to intervene when protest becomes criminal and may cause serious disruption.”
Meanwhile, hundreds marched against the monarchy in Cardiff while football fans in Liverpool drowned out the National Anthem with boos and chants ahead of the club’s 1-0 win against Brentford at Anfield.