Two women charged after disrupting coronation service in Edinburgh

Two women have been charged after disrupting a service to mark the King's coronation in Edinburgh yesterday.

They reportedly tried to climb over a crowd safety barrier along the Royal Mile - and were arrested over an alleged breach of the peace.

The pair are due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff court next Tuesday (11th July)

This Is Rigged tweeted that two of its campaigners were arrested by police, and Republic, a campaign to abolish the monarchy, said it was "concerned" to hear about arrests.

Republic tweeted: "Very concerned by the arrest of three peaceful protesters at the end of a successful day. Currently talking to police to find out more and get them released."

Protesters were asked to stand in designated areas outside the High Court on the Royal Mile and outside of the Scottish Parliament.

Scottish Government minister and Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie addressed around 100 protesters from the Our Republic campaign, outside Holyrood.

He said: "Republic and Our Republic have struck the right balance by continuing to make the case for the change they seek: an elected head of state.

"In the meantime, talk about some of the smaller issues that should be addressed for as long as the monarchy last, like, for example, some of the tax loopholes they have that others don't."

He said the service of thanksgiving taking place at St Giles' Cathedral was a "Game Of Thrones-style cosplay exercise" and hit out at the disruption in Edinburgh this week.

He told the rally: "It is fundamentally at odds with the kind of modern and democratic society we are trying to build here."

Mr Harvie said he had to take a 25-minute detour from St Andrew's House to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday.

He said: "I recognise there is going to be disruption when there is a major event on.

"But let's think about how a modern, democratic head of state would go about their business in Scotland.

"It wouldn't have this level of pomp and ceremony and rigmarole."

A member of the Republic campaign earlier told PA that the monarchy is a "symbol of the state that this country is in".

She said: "There is a big problem with wealth distribution in this country and they are a classic example of people who have too much when so many people have too little.

"There is also the democratic deficit. He (Charles) has got a very important, very powerful position in this country because his mother died.

"He has never been voted into office, we don't have the chance to get rid of him.

"It's old fashioned, it's antique and it's high time we got rid of it."

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: "It's absolutely right that people should have the right to protest, that's democracy.

"As regards to the Scottish Greens, my dealings with them so far is that every position they've taken has been the wrong position.

"If that's the position they've taken today then I think the monarchy is safe for generations."

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs, police lead for the event, said: "This significant constitutional event took place safely without any disruption to the ceremony or people's procession.

"Safety was our priority and a number of actions were taken to ensure this, which included an open approach to engaging with potential protest groups.

"Over the past few weeks, our protest liaison team have been speaking to protest groups, we set up an independent advisory group to help guide our approach and, in co-ordination with the event organiser and the local authority crowd safety manager, we worked hard to identify dedicated protest areas to maximise public safety, balanced against people's rights to protest.

"I would like to thank the overwhelming majority of protesters who engaged with us and also our officers whose professionalism helped ensure the safe delivery of this event for everyone who attended.

"Decisions about how to police protests require us to balance complex and often competing rights and issues. We have a legal duty to protect the rights of people who wish to peacefully protest or counter-protest.

"Our priority is public safety and a policing plan was in place to maintain people's safety, ensure the safe delivery of this event, enable peaceful protest and minimise disruption."