Concerns have been raised after women's safety volunteers were among those arrested at the King's Coronation this weekend, as rape alarms were seized.
The Metropolitan Police made 64 arrests on coronation day (Saturday 6 May), with 46 people bailed after being detained on suspicion of causing a public nuisance or breaching the peace.
Campaigners have condemned the arrests of protesters as a deliberate attempt to "disrupt" and "diminish" dissent. Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy Republic campaign group who was detained on Saturday, accused Scotland Yard of having 'every intention' of arresting demonstrators.
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It comes as Rishi Sunak backed the police force, insisting that officers act independently of government based on 'what they think is best' amid claims they were cracking down at the behest of politicians, the PA news agency reports.
But Westminster City Council has now also raised concerns after it emerged that volunteers from their women's safety campaign were arrested - and rape alarms seized.
In defence, the Metropolitan Police said it had received intelligence that people were planning to use the devices to disrupt the procession, but did not say how.
Caroline Russell said the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee that she chairs will be questioning the Met over the "worrying" arrests.
The Green politician told Today: "It felt like for someone who was trying to protest, and trying to do it by the book, it was very difficult to understand what the rules were.
"It seems absolutely extraordinary that those people who were volunteering, they were out there handing out flip flops to people who could no longer walk in their high heels because they’d had a bit too much to drink and handing out rape alarms. It just seems extraordinary that they got caught up in the Met’s safety net. How? It just feels very odd."
In total the Met made 64 arrests during the coronation day. Four charges have been brought, including over a religiously aggravated public order allegation and class A drugs possession.
Labour frontbencher and MP for Denton and Reddish, Andrew Gwynne, said the Public Order Act gave "disproportionate" powers to the police, but was not committing the party to repealing it if it enters government.
Instead the shadow public health minister told Sky News: "I think the next Labour government will look very carefully at this legislation."
Mr Gwynne defended the right to protest and suggested revellers supporting the coronation should have drowned out the dissent.
"That would’ve been the appropriate approach, to drown out those that wanted to protest rather than maybe heavy-handed practice that some have suggested may have taken place," he said.
Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation representing officers from the rank of constable to chief inspector, said police were acting both lawfully and "impartially."
"Protesting can take place in this country but it’s the level to which you want to perform that protest that we have to balance and deal with what’s put in front of us impartially. That’s what was done," he told Today.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has demanded "clarity" from the force’s leaders on the arrests.
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