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.

@cakeorwine

That is ridiculous. They will have known of Republic and their arranged protest at a designated place, so it's bollocks. All police teams have briefings

The Met at large may well regret the arrest, however it is the thugs in the TSG that are in charge at high risk events like this and it is clear that they do not give a shit what has gone on or who else has been spoken to within the Met. The problem is that the Met have continued to refuse to deal with the TSG despite it being deeply problematic unit that does not seem to be able to be fully controlled. I presume that is because the TSG are useful to the government and the vested interests.

I wonder if anyone from Republic told them at the time they were liasing - or decided to "get arrested without mentioning it" as they knew the effect of publicity.

At no point did the police think about deescalating, confiscating the "lock up equipment" or just stopping to think about the potential optics.

I think Republic are winners in this.

I do too.

So of the 64 arrests the Metropolitan Police made during the coronation just four have so far led to any charges.

All of the cases against the republican protestors arrested and detained for almost 16 hours after unloading placards from their van, have been dropped.

16 hours to get released. Whilst it was in all the news, social media...

And no one realised who they were holding?

And the Met are supposed to be trying to regain our trust?

Fuck me, it's in the Daily Mail

Met Police 'regrets' arrests of six protesters ahead of King's coronation | Daily Mail Online

Exactly this.

Ignorance is no excuse. They knew

Interesting. From the BBC

The statement comes after Mr Smith said he would take legal action against police after no charges were brought against him.
He also said he has now received a personal apology from police officers.
Mr Smith said a chief inspector and two other officers visited his reading home on Monday evening to issue the apology.
He told PA: "They seemed rather embarrassed to be honest.
"I said for the record I won't accept the apology. We have a lot of questions to answer and we will be taking action."

When a Chief Inspector comes to apologise, you know that they have fucked up

I was scared something like this would happen. I wanted to go up to the protest with my daughter but decided not to in the end due to the way republicans have been treated at recent Royal events.

This isn't the first time they have been arrested for protesting since Charles came to power and its bloody terrifying.

The BBC has also repeatedly lowered the numbers of anti royal protest attendees, avoided reporting on poll results that show a decline in support for the monarchy AND allowed members of the Royal staff to review and sign off on reporting before its made public.

So basically we are allowed free speech and and impartial press only if those things suit the monarchy

I hope William and Charles read the media and can see what the country is like.

But this is Braverman too isn't it...vile

She'll be pissed off that a Chief Inspector personally apologised.

I’m not seeing this violence. XR and Just Stop Oil maybe be hugely annoying and irritating but have never used any violence. Nor have Republic who eschew the civil disobedience and do good old-fashioned protest, placards, banners and a bit of chanting. Beside the police have apologised now and admitted there were no grounds for arresting Republic leaders. A constitutional monarch funded by the state is a political entity and when they choose to spend huge amount of money in their unnecessary enthronement then the right to peacefully protest is a sacred citizen's right. If not then we are on a slippery slope to authoritarianism and fascism.

A horse frightened by the military music and crowds cheering did actually bolt and could have easily killed someone so by the logic of risk management we should stop their unnecessary use for spectacle alone.

It's interesting that the police found straps that could be used to lock on but then could not find any evidence that they were going to be used to lock on so they were released without charge.

How do the police prove intent unless the person is in the act of locking on?

If we get rid of the monarchy system, what would we replace it with? Another head of state? Would it be a political appointment? That comes with its own problems of course. And it would have to be financed. I'm a bit ambivalent about it all, but am aware that it's easy to dislike something without having a sensible alternative.

Well - that's a whole separate discussion. And one that occurs frequently on MN.

This is really about the right to protest and make our voices heard. But if you want to start a thread on that, I am sure people will respond.

the comments on here are terrifying in their sheep-like obedience

Have you ever met a sheep? Just about the most disobedient creatures on the planet.

It was not clear at the time that at least one of the group stopped had been engaging with police Protest Liaison Team officers ahead of the event

This would be hilarious if it wasn't so utterly feeble - and after 3 days to come up with a story that's the best they can produce??

Even if Republic chose not to mention the previous discussions on the day (which I'm prepared to believe, knowing the publicity unwarranted arrests would rightly bring them) whatever happened to facial recognition and police "intelligence"?

Still, never mind; the Met achieved their aim of sanitising appearances ... just a pity they scored such a massive own goal and handed Republic a huge gift in doing it

@Puzzledandpissedoff it's one thing suspending belief for trashy novel on the beach but that's next level from the Met.

I believe that man was from the Oil lot who glue themselves to roads? Been arrested lots of times. Not the not my king lot. May be mistaken, but my reading is the arrests were for Oil and another fringe movement, rather than republicans.

The arrests of six were for Republican. Nothing to do with Stop Oil.

Graham Smith CEO of Republic is well respected despite his views not aligning with everyone's. He has been interviewed on all the main news channels, except maybe BBC.

The Police have admitted they made a mistake. Republican were told on Friday their protest (not blocking anyone's view) could go ahead by the Liaison Committee of the Police. They then ambushed them whilst pretending they didn't know that Republic had been talking with the Police (themselves) about this for months.

Oh well..... Republic have increased their memberships and donations hugely. Some good has come out of it.
Exposure
Sympathy
Increased membership
Story going worldwide

Just to clarify, the protestors arrested on Saturday morning told the TSG that they had permission from the Met to protest and they didn’t give a shit. They didn’t attempt to verify their story - they had one job and that was to ensure those guys were behind bars. It was an entirely political arrest and all those supporting it because they didn’t want the billionaire’s party spoilt have a deeply troubling understanding of democracy.

I think protest **posters and booing are fine. But not egg throwing and setting off alarms.