Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a handful of people in Britain have been detained by police for expressing — often bluntly — anti-monarchy views. A woman in Edinburgh who held a sign reading “F—— imperialism, abolish the monarchy” has been charged with breach of the peace. A man has faced the same charge after he stabbed Prince Andrew as the Queen’s hearse traveled through the Scottish capital. In Oxford, peace activist Symon Hill was handcuffed after shouting his opposition during a ceremonial proclamation of the new king. Hill said he spontaneously shouted “Who elected him?” because he opposes the imposition of a head of state in the country. “I doubt most of the people in the crowd even heard me,” he wrote on his blog. “Two or three people around me told me to shut up.” Hill said he was put into a police van by officers who told him he was being held for alleged conduct likely to cause “harassment, alarm or distress”. He was later released but could still be questioned. “The police abused their powers to arrest someone who expressed some mild opposition to the undemocratic appointment of a head of state,” he said. In London, a woman was moved from the gates of Parliament while holding a ‘Not my King’ sign. Police said they were removed from the scene, where a police officer was stabbed to death in an Islamist attack in 2017, to allow vehicles in and were not asked to leave the wider area. Lawyer Paul Powlesland said he was questioned by police outside parliament on Monday while holding a white piece of paper on which he also planned to write “Not my king”. In footage shot by Powlesland, an officer can be heard saying he “could offend someone” if he wrote the words. Poulsland called the police’s behavior “outrageous.” Civil rights group Liberty said it was “deeply disturbing to see the police using their broad powers in such a heavy-handed and punitive way to suppress freedom of speech and expression”. Republic, a group campaigning for the end of the monarchy, said it would complain to police “in the strongest possible terms” and organize protests against the king’s coronation in the coming months. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to any democracy,” said spokesman Graham Smith. “At a time when the media is full of fawning over a king appointed without discussion or consensus, it’s even more important.” The arrests come after the government passed a controversial law and order bill that strengthens police powers to crack down on disruptive demonstrations. It is unclear if any of the arrests were related to the new law. Prime Minister Liz Truss’s spokesman, Max Blain, said that while “this is a time of national mourning and indeed sadness for the vast majority of the UK … the right to protest remains a fundamental principle”. However, he said it was “for the police to decide what is appropriate in individual circumstances”. The Queen’s death sparked one of the biggest security operations in British history. Around 500 members of the royal family, heads of state and government from around the world are expected at the late monarch’s state funeral on Monday. Before that, hundreds of thousands are expected to line a line through central London to see the Queen lie in state at Parliament’s Westminster Hall. Huge crowds have already gathered near Buckingham Palace and other royal residences to leave notes and flowers or simply be part of a moment in history. London’s Metropolitan Police said “the vast majority of interactions between officers and the public at this time have been positive”. “The public absolutely have a right to protest and we have made that clear to all officers involved in the emergency policing operation currently taking place,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cuddy said.
