Anti-Monarchy Protesters Rally in London (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Hundreds protested against the British monarchy in London on King Charles III's coronation day, holding banners and chanting, "Not my king!"
The Metropolitan Police have been criticised after officers made 52 arrests on Saturday as Britain crowned its first new monarch of the 21st century.
King Charles III swore an oath of duty to serve, seven months after the death of his mother. His wife Camilla was crowned Queen in an event that could barely have been imagined a decade ago.
Human Rights Watch called the arrests “incredibly alarming”.
Protesters from the anti-monarchy group, including its chief executive Graham Smith, were apprehended, as well as demonstrators from Just Stop Oil and Animal Rising.
UK police defended their tactics Saturday after attracting criticism for arresting leading members of the anti-monarchy group Republic as they prepared to protest the coronation of King Charles III in central London.
The arrests came just days after UK police forces were controversially granted new anti-protest powers by the government following years of disruptive demonstrations by environmental activists.
It expands protest-related offences to include locking-on and carrying lock-on devices, extends police stop-and-search powers, and allows for new court orders to prevent people from attending demonstrations.
The British police deployed 11,500 officers Saturday as well as facial-recognition technology that civil liberties organizations branded “authoritarian”, causing the Veteran rights campaigner Peter Tatchell to accuse the force of breaking a promise to permit the anti-monarchy protest.
