Anti-monarchy protesters arrested in London — RT World Information

Law enforcement officials arrested quite a lot of anti-monarchy demonstrators and seized protest placards forward of the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday. The protesters say they need to have the ability to select their head of state.

London’s Metropolitan Police stated on Saturday morning that “a big police operation” was underway in central London. Shortly afterwards, the pressure introduced that it had arrested 4 individuals “on suspicion of conspiracy to trigger a public nuisance,” and one other three “on suspicion of possessing articles to trigger felony injury.” The primary group had been present in possession of “lock-on units,” police stated.

“Public nuisance” was made a felony offense underneath controversial protest legal guidelines introduced in final 12 months, whereas “locking on” – a tactic popularized by local weather activists – was criminalized when a separate public order invoice got here into pressure earlier this week.

Republic, an anti-monarchy group, stated that its chief and 5 key organizers had been amongst these arrested, and that tons of of the group’s placards had been seized by police. The Alliance of European Republican Actions – which opposes monarchies throughout the continent – posted a video to social media displaying Republic’s chief, Graham Smith, being detained.

Different images and movies present officers seizing bundles of placards studying ‘Not My King’ and taking banners off protesters at Trafalgar Sq., the place tons of of demonstrators had gathered to oppose the coronation of Britain’s new monarch. As Charles III was topped inside Westminster Abbey, the group at Trafalgar Sq. chanted “down with the crown” and “get an actual job.”

“As a substitute of a coronation we would like an election. As a substitute of Charles we would like a alternative. It’s that easy,” Republic tweeted earlier than the ceremony started.

Trafalgar Sq. was a symbolic location for the protest. Apart from its location alongside the coronation procession route, the sq. is house to a statue of King Charles I, who was executed in 1649 after the English Civil Struggle. England was briefly a republic after his dying, earlier than the monarchy was restored in 1660 with the coronation of his son, Charles II.

Elsewhere in London, police arrested “round 20” local weather protesters affiliated with the ‘Simply Cease Oil’ group, the group stated. Claiming that the protesters had no plans of disrupting the coronation and easily deliberate on revealing t-shirts with the group’s title written on them, a Simply Cease Oil spokesperson described the police operation as “a dystopian nightmare.”

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