THE Met Police have been accused of seeking to use human rights legislation to block anti-monarchy protests at this weekend's Trooping the Colour.
In a move described as "kafkaesque", the Met Police have apparently written to campaign group Republic citing the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as justification for closing down a planned protest.
Republic has said this is a law that is designed to protect demonstrations rather than shut them down and highlighted that just 10 days ago the police told the group they were "relaxed" and have "no issue with where you want to protest".
While no final decision has been communicated to Republic, the police are insisting the protest is moved to a place that is out of sight of the parade and media.
Trooping the Colour marks the official birthday of the monarch.
Pledging to challenge the police and Royal Parks, Republic's CEO Graham Smith said: "Human rights laws protect the right to meaningfully protest. To see those same laws used to effectively ban protest is a very worrying development.
"The police want us to protest well away from Buckingham Palace and away from the parade, where we will not be seen or heard. This is on the spurious grounds that a protest would deny spectators the right to enjoy the parade.
"The Human Rights Act and ECHR does not provide a right to enjoy a day out, and the experience of all our protests is that we successfully protest alongside spectators without incident.
"The argument that a protest is infringing on the rights of others to enjoy an event is particularly dangerous, opening up the possibility of banning any number of political protests on the most spurious grounds.
"I am also concerned that the police seem willing to enforce the wishes of Royal Parks, who want to ban all protest outside Buckingham Palace. That would be a serious affront to democratic rights in this country."
Smith added he wanted to see all parties fighting the General Election to guarantee protection of peaceful protest.
"If this ban goes ahead, we will do everything in our power to challenge that decision, and we will protest outside Buckingham Palace, the Met Police HQ and Royal Parks offices, while calling on the government to address this attack on our rights," Smith said.
Last year, the same protesters were arrested before they had a chance to demonstrate at the King's coronation.
In October last year, the Met concluded the group would face no further action. The Crown Prosecution Service reviewed the evidence and said there was “no realistic prospect of conviction”.
The Met Police and Royal Parks have been contacted for comment.
