The police has apologised over the arrest of the republican group

Yes, of course. But they didn't.

If these republicans had strode with banners and megaphones into every street party in the country that too would be their right ?

Well said Forsythia. 👏👏👏

Whitewavemark2
It was badly done, because the police were unclear how to interpret.

Lack of training on their part, in that case?

Why should this small vocal minority with their stupid placards disrupt a once in a lifetime event for the majority? Personally, I would have loved the crowd to get their hands on them. They’d soon be whining. They care nothing about others just their own intransigent views. Free speech and democracy has nothing to do with it. They are inciting violence and fear. Are they out waving their placards or locking themselves onto anything today? No, of course not.
They’re pathetic.

Is it legal to Protest? Protesting is legal in England and Wales, the right to protest is protected under the European Convention of Human Rights. However, this only applies to peaceful protest and does not extend to any violence inflicted or damage caused during a protest.

Yes, seadragon, some have very short memories - and would be the first to criticise the police if a catastrophe had occurred.

I don’t believe them

Prevention is better than cure.

I am not saying that a protestor is a potential terrorist, of course not, but the mood could have turned ugly and the consequences could have been terrible.

I agree with Foxygloves, Aveline, Mollygo, Smileless and NanaDana.GrannyGravy13 Anniebach Katie59 Callistemon21 Germanshepherdsmum
Security for all those gathered for the coronation - surely the most tempting target for any terrorist ever - as well as the principals was a massive headache for the horrendously overstretched public services, not just the police, not forgetting the massive presence of all those armed forces personnel. I feel they had little choice but actively to suppress any suggestion of 'rebellion'. I am not being naive; am no apologist for this government and have read all the negative publicity about the police, but I am a former public servant having worked for local authorities as well as the MOD and am well used to the epithet: 'damned if you do (act) and damned if you don't. Whenever assessing risk I asked myself "if I let this pass what might happen to these folk if I've got it wrong?...." Have we forgotten 2007 and 2017 so soon....?

The appearance of chanting, placard-waving republicans amongst crowds who had turned out to cheer the king and queen could easily have turned very ugly - but the republicans would have insisted they were simply exercising their right to protest peacefully, albeit in a deliberately inflammatory manner. It’s not what I call ‘peaceful’ by any stretch of the imagination - nor is deliberately preventing people from going about their everyday business including paramedics and doctors on life-saving missions.

Germanshepherdsmum

As I understand it, no arrests were made under the new law, but under previous laws.
I absolutely agree, Foxygloves, Aveline, Mollygo, Smileless and NanaDana.

Yes, so do I.

The police prevented what could have been a catastrophe had the horses been spooked.
Even well-trained horses can become unnerved.

Surely carrying a placard advocating chopping off of heads is inciting violence? Or is that 'peaceful protest'?

Katie59

The police are always likely to “over react” because they get blamed if injury or disruption is caused. There was as credible risk that trouble, even risk to life was likely on coronation day so probably 10000 police were deployed to protect everyone.

As it happened there was no serious problem and only 60 arrests were made, so they were successful. The protesters are free to demonstrate today or in the future. There has to be limits on the disruption that demonstrations are allowed to cause, do we really want all our motorways closed by big oil protesters doing a peaceful sit in, I don’t think so.

All are free to protest.

I have a problem when protests cause disruption and sometimes fear in others.

That’s when the police on the ground are forced into playing a game of Top Trumps of rights.

The police are always likely to “over react” because they get blamed if injury or disruption is caused. There was as credible risk that trouble, even risk to life was likely on coronation day so probably 10000 police were deployed to protect everyone.

As it happened there was no serious problem and only 60 arrests were made, so they were successful. The protesters are free to demonstrate today or in the future. There has to be limits on the disruption that demonstrations are allowed to cause, do we really want all our motorways closed by big oil protesters doing a peaceful sit in, I don’t think so.

I too agree with them GrannyGravy

Germanshepherdsmum

As I understand it, no arrests were made under the new law, but under previous laws.
I absolutely agree, Foxygloves, Aveline, Mollygo, Smileless and NanaDana.

I also agree with those posters.

As I understand it, no arrests were made under the new law, but under previous laws.
I absolutely agree, Foxygloves, Aveline, Mollygo, Smileless and NanaDana.

Yes Smileless, I hate to use such a Littlejohn-esque phrase but you do always get those ‘rentamob’ types.
I’ve known a few of them in my time

Labour should repeal Braverman's repressive legislation when in power.

What was the actual point of Republic’s protest?
I am very sympathetic to their cause, but I really can’t see what their intention was.

I agree with 'damned if they did and damned if they didn't'. One of the horses was skittish and took some controlling despite its extensive training and the calm atmosphere.

Sadly protests that are organised and publicised in advance have attracted those who don't support the cause but are simply looking for trouble. It would have been terrible if this group had been infiltrated by trouble makers where so many had gathered, many with children.

MaizieD.. Yes, I've read the Police apology, and I still see what they did it as a case of "fail safe" under the most extreme pressure. As for rape alarms, the fact that the Met had received intelligence about a plot to use them was widely reported, and not just by right wing media. Also. one of those arrested with them allegedly has links to Extinction Rebellion, so "fail safe" yet again. Bottom line for me, is that despite the controversy surrounding the arrests, the security services did an amazing job, faced with the most complex challenge that they have faced in decades. Well worth a few ruffled feathers, and no, I don't see what happened as some sinister threat to the democratic process. Merely a tiny blemish in the bottom left hand corner of the bigger picture, which was rightly focussed on public safety.

Right of assembly to protest is a human right.

Protest is generally noisy - nothing wrong with that.

The police job was simply to ensure it didn’t get out of hand.

It was badly done, because the police were unclear how to interpret

Bad legislation

There was never any intention for the protest to be anything but peaceful.
Peaceful = free from disturbance; tranquil
No protest is peaceful.
Peaceful protest is an oxymoron.
The protestors aim was to disrupt proceedings by shouting and waving placards wasn’t it? I certainly saw them shouting and waving their placards!
I’ve no idea why the original arrests were made, but I do agree the police were damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

At the time of the arrests, the group's leader told the BBC that the police had mistaken leather straps necessary to the banners (?) for lock on devices.

Now it is said that there were only a couple of innocent padlocks. The re-writing of "truth" becomes daily more Orwellian.