Met Police 'regret' arresting anti-monarchy protesters on coronation day

Leader of Republic says a chief inspector and two officers apologised to him over the incident

Republic leader Graham Smith says his anti-monarchy group will be taking action against London's Metropolitan Police. AP

The Metropolitan Police have expressed “regret” over the arrest of members of an anti-monarchy protest group on the day of King Charles III’s coronation.

The leader of campaign group Republic said a chief inspector and two other Met officers personally apologised to him on Monday night, days after the arrest of eight members of the group.

Graham Smith said the speed with which they dropped any action against the group showed officers were aware “they had made a very serious error of judgment”.

Mr Smith said the group had been in touch with the force over the past four months and been fully transparent over its plans to protest.

“We were not doing anything wrong. We were going about our lawful business, as they were well aware of and they simple descended on us, detained us and kept us for 16 hours,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.

“We are taking advice from our lawyers in terms of how to respond to the Metropolitan Police. And as soon as we have the opportunity we will continue to protest where the king is and against the monarchy.”

The Met issued a lengthy defence confirming Mr Smith and five others had been told they would face no further action after being stopped at 6.40am on Saturday.

Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said it was “unfortunate” that arrested demonstrators had been unable to take part in protests.

But he backed officers' actions, saying they believed those detained may have been preparing to disrupt coronation events.

“While it is unfortunate that the six people affected by this were unable to join the hundreds of peaceful protesters, I support the officers' actions in this unique fast-moving operational context.”

Writing for the Evening Standard he said: “I can report that we found people in possession of possible lock-on devices and people that appeared to be purporting to be stewards of the event in possession of plastic bottles containing white paint, which we believe were specifically to be used to criminally disrupt the procession and resulted in arrests for going equipped to commit criminal damage.

“Much of the ill-informed commentary on the day is wholly inaccurate — for example, protest was not banned.

“I want to be absolutely clear — our activity was targeted at those we believed were intent on causing serious disruption and criminality.”

The force said the group had been arrested using new powers under the much-criticised Public Order Act after it was believed items found alongside a large number of placards could be used as “lock-on devices” to cause disruption.

The police earlier said they would have a “low tolerance” for disruption on the day.

“Those arrested stated the items would be used to secure their placards, and the investigation has been unable to prove intent to use them to lock on and disrupt the event,” the force said.

“This evening, all six have had their bail cancelled and no further action will be taken.

“We regret that those six people arrested were unable to join the wider group of protesters in Trafalgar Square and elsewhere on the procession route.”

Mr Smith said the three officers apologised to him at his home in Reading, Berkshire, before handing back the straps for the placards they arrested him over.

“They seemed rather embarrassed, to be honest,” he told the PA news agency:

“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.”

Scotland Yard said 52 of the 64 arrests made during its coronation operation on Saturday related to concerns certain people were going to disrupt the procession.

So far, four charges have been brought.

The force insisted the action was “targeted” at those believed to be “intent on taking this action”.

“Any suggestion all protest was prohibited is not correct,” the Met said.

The force acknowledged that at least one of the six people arrested while unloading placards from a vehicle in St Martin's Lane had engaged with its protest liaison team, but said those officers were not present during the arrest.

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“Taking into account the information that people were seeking to seriously disrupt the event, and the significance of the security operation, officers had been briefed to be extremely vigilant and proactive,” the force said.

Mr Smith said: “I'm obviously relieved they dropped it so quickly but very angry they even went down this road, robbing people of their liberty for absolutely no reason.”

“There was no evidence of any ability or intent to commit any offence, and they simply decided to arrest us and that is outrageous.”

Mr Sunak had defended Scotland Yard's operation and denied officers were acting under pressure from ministers.

“The police are operationally independent of government, they'll make these decisions based on what they think is best,” he told broadcasters during a visit to Hertfordshire.

“Actually, I'm grateful to the police and everyone who played a part in ensuring that this weekend has gone so well, so successfully and so safely, that was an extraordinary effort by so many people and I'm grateful to them for all their hard work.”

But Mr Smith believed officers had “every intention” of arresting demonstrators and used the straps as a “pretext” to detain the group under the new powers making locking-on to an object a criminal offence that could lead to detention.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has requested “further clarity” from Scotland Yard.

“While it's vital the police are able to keep us safe, it must be balanced with protecting the right to peaceful protest — an integral part of democracy,” said Mr Khan, from the Labour Party.

“Londoners will want swift reassurance any lessons to be learnt will be learnt.”

Mr Smith raised new concerns about the Public Order Act signed into law last week, which tips the balance against protest through clauses such as one that lowers the definition of “serious disruption”.

Labour said it was not committed to repealing the act despite harbouring concerns about its use.

Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation representing officers from the rank of constable to chief inspector, said police were acting both lawfully and “impartially”.

“Protesting can take place in this country but it's the level to which you want to perform that protest that we have to balance and deal with what's put in front of us impartially. That's what was done,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.