Republicans are getting arrested

[carmenitapink]

I find it ridiculous that the media mocks North Korea for forcing its citizens to mourn their leaders death, yet we are being made to do the same.

To top it off, there have been numerous arrests of people protesting the monarchy - which is perfectly within their right to do so, especially if you believe in democracy and only having elected leaders.

amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/12/republican-britain-why-are-people-getting-arrested

I liked and respected the Queen, but don't like the rest of the royal family and find the idea that they have the "divine" right to rule frankly ridiculous in this day and age. What is Britain becoming when people don't have the free speech to protest about it?!

It is clear to me that many people want to see the coffin. That is why certain events are happening. If there were no crowds to watch then they wouldn't do half the stuff they have planned. It is almost like The Queen's last acts of duty.
She may well have personally preferred yesterday's service to have been her funeral but the lying in state etc will have hundreds of thousands of people attending. People should be allowed to mourn in peace without protestors.

But how is holding up a sign disturbing anyone's peace or preventing them from mourning?

Yes, lets just have vigilantes patrolling the streets, why not?

You obviously haven't looked at my links. A woman on her own, not at a procession, holding up a piece of paper. Should someone come along and spit in her face?

Actually not even a sign - literally a piece of paper.

Because he is a dirty old man who doesn't know how to behave. Even when he is supposed to he mourning his mother and comforting his family he is inappropriate.

Have you seen the video of him stroking his daughter's bum while she is crying?

Completely agree with you op.

So, that'll be the new bill the tories instigated when we were all being distracted by partygate.

Back to focusing on Stacey Solomon now everyone!

🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑

What's important here is that whatever we think about Prince Andrew and whether he believe he's guilty or not - he's not convicted of the crime.

So comparing his attendance to child rapists and murderers etc is comparing apples and oranges.

I do think having him parade the streets is tone deaf but his mum has died, he's a prince and her son and it's what we do.

People should be allowed to protest at anytime and the bills parliament are currently trying to get through terrify me.

However breach of the peace is and has always been illegal in my lifetime. If someone chooses not to move themselves after police warnings (we do police by consent) then they may find themselves arrested.

A policeman on TV just stated it's not even likely to reach court as not in the public interest to go further.

I'd be interested to know if they charged him with anything!

You’re right, a sign is sooo harmless it’s not distressing at all. Let’s start allowing this shit too for all the anti-abortionists out there.

Not simply that, @Bretonbear, but I think of those grieving who had funerals (and, more joyfully, weddings) arranged for the same day as the state funeral, having to cancel and rearrange, causing terrible hassle and I imagine loss of money as a result. Hospital and doctors' appointments being cancelled, cancer treatment being cancelled. It's ridiculous and unfair to the public. Fair enough, close down the centre of London on the day if you have to, so those who want to attend and mourn are able to, but the rest of it is totally overegging the pudding. I agree, it's ridiculous.
The arrests are not to do with the monarchy but with Priti Patel.

It’s just a bank holiday. So there is no legal requirement for employers to give employees the day off. This includes NHS Trusts- so the decision to cancel appointments is one they are making. Too, you can still have a funeral or a wedding on a bank holiday. If these are also being cancelled it’s the decision of the funeral director/wedding company, and not anything to do with the monarchy or government requiring it.

@Discovereads

I don't have to like what's being said to believe in freedom of speech. (If it's not promoting violence or inciting hatred.)

However breach of the peace is and has always been illegal in my lifetime. If someone chooses not to move themselves after police warnings (we do police by consent) then they may find themselves arrested

Well said.

I am somewhat surprised that some posters cannot see the difference between a republican demonstration (of which there have been none that I am aware of) and someone heckling a funeral and its associated events.

There won't be any demonstrations permitted in central London right now though, as it's already beginning to see closures for security and to get crowd safety measure on place. But I expect there will be plenty of availability on other cities or after next Tuesday (they'll need at least a day to clear everything away)

Not in my name either, and this will bring more protests and an incendiary atmosphere.

Your argument could easily be made to halt any type of protest, someone will always be offended or be inconvenienced.

Why should elected MPs in the 'commons be subject to heckling and "offensive" banners? arrest them!

Anything can be construed as a "Breach of the Peace and an affront to public order" so ban strikes, ban marches... maybe they are too noisy, stop people getting to work or cut company profits.... oh hang on, they've started down that route already and plan on reducing the ability to strike too.

I agree, the police are supposed to manage protest, not prevent it. Ensuring there’s no one quietly holding a sign saying “Not My King” at the proclamation of a new monarch smacks of clearing homeless people off the streets for a royal wedding. Sweeping dissent and poverty under the carpet, so nothing complicates the story of a nation united. Stopping heckling at memorial services is one thing but this is going too far

I agree with the title of the thread - republicans are being arrested.

I will not get into discussing Prince Andrew or antiabortionists. The point of this thread is to discuss that peaceful dissenters have been arrested because they expressed views against the monarchy.

Unfortunately the law that allows the police to pretty much stop any protests is already in place. It doesn't matter if the arrested are charged or not - protest stopped, member of the public intimidated, job done. Whoever is on the feminist boards has seen this modus operandi before.

I think this really is not the place to protest and to ruin it for everyone else.

But I also think the person should not be arrested or charged over this, they should just be removed and asked to make their protest somewhere else.

As someone else mentioned the majority of the crowd was there because they wanted to quietly enjoy the event. Their right to do so in peace also needs to be protected.

Wow. And Republicans are the nasties! Do you use violence against everyone who expresses an opinion you don't like?

Yes I agree with you. It’s why we have to consider each case separately.

Freedom of speech doesn’t give anyone the right to verbally harass a specific person in public. The heckler calling Prince Andrew “a sick old man” and so on, he wasn’t protesting the monarchy…he was harassing a person. If you think that is “protest” then any man screaming at a fat woman “you’re a fat pig of a woman” repeatedly while she is walking behind her dead mums hearse would be protected under “freedom of speech”. That’s not what freedom of speech is for or allows.

The woman with the sign that said “Fuck imperialism. Abolish monarchy” I agree she was a valid protester and shouldn’t have been arrested. Taken into custody and escorted away by police for her own safety, yes but from what I understand she is the only one to date being charged. I think the arrest is nominally because her sign was technically obscene and as worded could be an incitement to violence, but realistically imho it’s because she’s a woman. I think the court will dismiss the charges though.

The “Not my King” heckler, from what I understand he was simply taken into custody, removed by the police and then released with no charge. I think that’s fair. He did his protest, got his point across. There’s no need to repeatedly scream, boo, and disrupt the ceremonies going on. It spoils it for the thousands around him that want to be there and have every right to not be subjected to a heckler.

The young Scots chap assaulted by police in edinburgh yesterday in protest against Andrew. The sight of that was chilling

What we have to ask ourselves is what is happening to Britain. The right to protest is fundamental.

It is disgraceful that silent protest is being shut down, there is no justification for it. People should be able to hold a sign. If people can't hold a sign then we are not a democracy.

The laws that were passed are sinister and we are now in a state where you can be intimidated by the police for holding a blank sheet of paper.

It's pretty terrifying actually. You don't know what right to protest you have until you try and exercise it. Seemingly we have much less right than we think.

I'm sure I read that a man was threatened with arrest for holding up a blank sign.

Which one was that? I did see police step in to stop the one who was heckling from getting a prospective kicking from members of the public, looks like they removed him for own safety, was there another one?

If people can't hold a sign then we are not a democracy.

“Holding a sign” has fuck all to do with being in a democracy. Hell, you can be in a democracy and have slaves. You can be in a democracy with no rights for women. You can be in a democracy while your government/military is genociding a minority ethnicity or another country. A democracy only means that political power is held by elected leaders. Who gets to stand for election and who gets to vote can be as restricted or as universal as possible.

Holding a sign does not stop anyone else doing what they want.

There is no right afforded to a majority by virtue of them being a majority, an individual's right to hold a sign saying 'not my King' is not affected by whether every other person disagrees with them.

The government may have taken away our legal freedom to hold a sign but the moral right to do it can't be changed.