London’s Metropolitan police were keen to portray the coronation of King Charles III as a once in a generation event justifying the pre-emptive, early morning arrests they made across London. It was also a once in a lifetime event for the 64 mostly republican protesters who were arrested on coronation day.
The police have issued a statement regarding the arrest of Graham Smith, the head of anti-monarchy group Republic and five others, who were released after about 18 hours in custody. The police expressed regret not explicitly for arresting them, but that they were “unable to join the wider group of protesters” elsewhere.
The group of six were arrested a few hours before the coronation, as they loaded placards onto a van on St Martin’s Lane, close to where the main Republic protest was planned. The Met has indicated that the arrests were for possessing equipment that could be used to “lock on”, contrary to the Public Order Act, which received royal assent only a couple of days before.
