London Metropolitan Police Chief Commissioner, Mark Rowleydescribed this Tuesday as “unfortunate” the arrests of activists carried out last Saturday, including that of the leader of the anti-monarchist group Republic, graham smithhours before the festivities for the coronation of Carlos III began.
The arrests were made under the new Public Order Law that came into force on Wednesday, three days before the coronation, and which gives officers greater powers to deal with protests and demonstrations.
Police on Monday rescinded the probation conditions they had imposed on those six people and indicated that no further action will be taken against them.
Smith assured that he is studying “legal measures” after the “unfortunate incident” and revealed that three “embarrassed officers have apologized” in person.
The Government defends the police action
Despite police remorse, the UK Government continues to defend the arrests. The British Secretary of State for the Police, Chris Philp, assured that the security forces dealt with “multiple well-organized plots” to cause “very serious disturbances” in the coronation and praised the “success” of the operations to defuse them.
Philp appeared before the House of Commons to answer an urgent question about the arrests of Republican protesters. “Faced with intelligence pointing to specific threats, with multiple well-organized plots to disrupt (the coronation), the police did well to focus on ensuring that this momentous occasion unfolded safely and without major disruption,” the secretary of state said. State.
Questioned by the deputies, the Secretary of State for the Police refused to describe the arrests as “erroneous”: “That is a legal parameter and I don’t think it has been established,” he said.
“It must be stressed that this was a once-in-a-lifetime event and that it took place in the context of intelligence information that suggested that there were multiple well-organized plots to cause very serious disturbances,” stressed the Secretary of State.
facilitate the right
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Scottish National Party (SNP) MP Joanna Cherry, who had raised the urgent issue with the government, regretted that the arrests of these six activists occurred despite having previously agreed with the Metropolitan Police on the nature and conditions of the demonstration that they were going to perform that day.
The parliamentarian maintained that the Police have the “obligation not to interfere with the right to peaceful protest” and “facilitate it.”