…By Henry George for TDPel Media.
An inquiry has been launched into the Metropolitan Police’s arrests of anti-monarchy protesters during King Charles’s coronation weekend.
The Home Affairs Committee held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the policing response to the event.
64 people were arrested in London during the coronation, including six anti-monarchy protesters who were later released without charge.
The Met defended the arrests, but expressed “regret” that the Republic campaign group campaigners were taken into custody on Saturday.
The Home Affairs Committee will hold an evidence session on May 17 to examine the Met’s approach to policing public protests and the practical implementation of the Public Order Bill.
Dame Diana Johnson, Chairwoman of the Home Affairs Committee, said that there are “real questions” about how potential protesters were dealt with.
She explained that the issue of how protests were policed has raised concerns, particularly about the implementation of the Public Order Act 2023, which is about going equipped to lock-on.
The committee would be interested in reviewing how broad the law is and what guidance was given to front-line police officers and whether there is an issue about training.
The Met has claimed intelligence leading up to the coronation indicated that people were planning to throw rape alarms at horses on the procession route to cause a potential stampede and that paint could be thrown at the King’s carriage.
Four people arrested on the day of the Coronation have been charged so far, including one with suspicion of causing a religiously aggravated offence, one under the Public Order Act and two for drug possession.
Police said the Republic members were originally arrested on suspicion of older offences of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance and released with no further action.
Helen King, a former assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, said it was “legitimate to ask questions” about the police’s handling of protests over the coronation weekend but added that front-line officers did not have the benefit of hindsight.
Analysis:
The Home Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry into the Metropolitan Police’s arrests of anti-monarchy protesters during King Charles’s coronation weekend.
Six anti-monarchy protesters were arrested and later released without charge, and the Met has expressed regret over this.
The committee is interested in reviewing how broad the Public Order Act 2023 is and what guidance was given to front-line police officers.
The Met claimed intelligence leading up to the coronation indicated that people were planning to throw rape alarms at horses on the procession route to cause a potential stampede and that paint could be thrown at the King’s carriage.
Four people have been charged so far, and the Republic members were originally arrested on suspicion of older offences of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
Former assistant commissioner Helen King said it was “legitimate to ask questions” about the police’s handling of protests over the coronation weekend.
She added that front-line officers did not have the benefit of hindsight and had to make difficult decisions quickly with imperfect and partial information.
She challenged what she saw as a “growing narrative” that “police don’t care about human rights, in fact they want to undermine them.”
She explained that every policing decision involves the very careful balancing of different human rights of different groups.
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