Anti-coronation protests are likely to be cracked down on heavily during the ceremony. As you can see The Guardian front page reveals that new powers making it easier for the police to disrupt protests, which are in the Public Order Act, have been implemented about six weeks early.
This means they can be used to deal with anyone who wants hold up coronation events, they can be removed and arrested more easily than under previous public order legislation.
Also, official warning letters have been sent to anti-monarchists planning peaceful protests at King Charles III’s coronation saying that new criminal offences to prevent disruption have been rushed into law.
Anti-coronation protests
“The coronation is a chance for the United Kingdom to showcase our liberty and democracy, that’s what this security arrangement is doing,” Tugendhat told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Empowering people to come together, freely, openly and demonstrating security can be a liberator, not like in authoritarian states where it is a controller.”
He said anti-monarchists would still “have the liberty to protest but they would not have the liberty to disrupt others. That’s where we’re drawing a difference”.
Anti-monarchy group
Republic, the group campaigning for the abolition of the monarchy and an elected head of state, has said that the Home Office’s decision to write to it warning about the new anti-protest powers was “very odd” because the group has been liaising with the police for some time about the coronation.
They tweeted: “We are proceeding as planned. Free speech and the right to protest are fundamental principles in a democracy.”
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