Arrested for holding a banner - can't ruin a big day, can we...

[cakeorwine]

'Not My King' protesters unfurl flags and shout anti-monarchy slogans on Coronation route | Daily Mail Online

Looks like the police are taking full advantage of their new powers.

countrygirl - He sounds thick, come on he was arrested for throwing eggs at King Charles on a previous occasion. It's obvious that he was there to spoil the occasion for others who wanted to watch the coronation. The crowds didn't want him there, no one was forcing him to go along and watch it. People were there with children, some had come from abroad especially to watch it, what gives him the right to think he can ruin others enjoyment. Selfish twat.

@BorgQueen At 2 o'clock in the morning? You sound a fucking delight by the way.

Maybe they should arrest anyone on a bike with bike locks?

He went to protest.

There were people there who were protesting,

It's not a theatre production, It's the Coronation of an unelected Head of State. People are allowed to protest against that.

@3dogsandarabbit he had no eggs on him when the police stopped him. Therefore there were no grounds to arrest him even under the new laws.

I think they need to have a reasonable belief.

Could we have mods that would ban anybody before they say something bad? Oh yes you can, it's called the British Royal Family Reddit and I'm banned ! Long Live Free Speech on Mumsnet !

This is one of the British values

an acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour

Has anyone told the Deputy Chair of the Conservative party who thinks that people who are anti Monarchist should emigrate?

I wonder if this will be raised in Parliament

British MPs Furious Over Coronation Arrests | HuffPost UK Politics (huffingtonpost.co.uk)

No, thanks.

Jesus wept! This was an organisation that helps protect women - unlike the Met! Do you think rapists think "we won't attack when tonight because it's the coronation weekend" ? Perhaps if the met did their job the rape alarms wouldn't be needed.

You know what frequently scare horses - flags and bunting. So on those grounds most of the people lining the route should have been arrested.

Probably not and if so only by an obscure back bencher. No main stream party or MP is going to expend political capital on anything Royal related. Too many bear traps. Best thing if you're angry is support Republic, donate and try to join one of their protest sometime.

Did you read the article?

Another article

‘Not my king,’ they chanted. Then the police took their megaphones | King Charles coronation | The Guardian

But that isn't how the law should work. You can either break the law or not break the law.

Afaik protesting peacefully is allowed in England although I know there has been changes around this recently so happy to be told I'm wrong.

I have now that's a tidy group of MPs - General Election, PR and then cast the Tories into oblivion. 82% of Tories support the monarchy as opposed to 42% of Labour. We're coming for ya Chazza... (in my dreams I know it's not likely for years if ever). But certainly big big reforms where you don't get to call the shots but our democratically elected representatives do. No 1 abolishing the House of Lords.

pointythings - Maybe he wouldn't let the police search his bag, maybe he started shouting and causing a disturbance, who knows, none of us unless we were there.

cakeorwine - He may have the right to protest but people also have the right to watch a once in a lifetime event without it being spoilt by selfish idiots who think that their view is the only one that matters.

Who would one man spoil it for?

No one.

#righttoprotest

That's a lot of maybes trying to justify arresting someone for possibly being in possession of an egg.

Being against the monarchy isn't exactly anything novel or edgy, it's been the case since it's formation. The police fuck up a lot and the government's ambition to curtail peoples right to protest and strike is troubling; but its not like all protestors were dispersed or arrested so I suspect there's more to it. People have an agenda and this is great publicity for Republic- as is often the case the enlightened are also the most easily fooled.

I do think the balance is tricky, I mean realistically a few hundred protestors aren't going to halt the day or change anyones minds- the people who miss out are the 'ordinary' people who travel to see it. In this case they didn't cause disruption that would have affected others but perhaps this was due to the policing. A lot of protestors don't care about their fellow commoners anyway, just stop oil are deplorable and mostly hypocrites- Republic seem decent though.

I've given up being surprised at the mental contortions of the authoritarianism fetishists on this thread.

Roussette - Of course he would spoil it, if I was watching the Coronation and I had some idiot standing next to me shouting "not my king" and waving a banner I'd be fucking annoyed, and it wasn't just one person was it, although it wasn't the thousands that republic were hoping for.

Your annoyance does not trump the other person's right to protest, I'm afraid. Although things are deteriorating, we do still live in a democracy and we do still have free speech. So you'd have to move elsewhere or suck it up.

Looking at the crowds, I would just move 10 foot away from him and see what I wanted to.