Portsmouth coronation protestor warns right to protest 'stripped away'
Elliot Lee urges people to 'stand up for democracy’
A Southsea man who last week was representing the Green Party in the Portsmouth City Council elections was among the dozens of anti-monarchy protesters arrested at Saturday’s coronation.
Elliott Lee, who stood in the St Thomas ward, was one of several people from the city to travel to the capital city for the protest arranged by campaign group Republic but was the only one to be arrested.
He described the weekend’s events, which saw him held in police custody until 2am on Sunday morning, as ‘scary’ – both personally and for the precedent the arrests set for people’s right to protest.
'The way I see it, there were hundreds of thousands of people in London on Saturday to demonstrate,’ he said. ‘Most of them were there to support the king but there was a group of us there for a peaceful protest against the monarchy.’
He was part of a group of protesters on the south side of The Mall near Buckingham Palace who were searched by police an hour before the coronation started.
They found a megaphone which, Mr Lee said, police officers told him could disrupt the procession by spooking horses if used. He was then handcuffed and arrested for breach of the peace before being taken to a police station several hours later.
At the police station, he was further arrested for conspiracy to commit public nuisance before being released under investigation at 2am on Sunday (May 7).
Writing on Twitter shortly before his arrest, he explained his reasons for taking part: ‘Two days ago, like thousands of others, I stood in the local elections to represent my community.
‘For those who won, regardless of my opinions, they have a mandate to lead. In comparison the monarchy has never had a mandate.’
Speaking after his arrest, he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that people needed to ‘stand up for democracy’.
‘The right to protest has been stripped away, it’s an incredibly worrying precedent,’ he said.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed they made 64 arrests on Saturday, 52 of which related to concerns people were going to disrupt the event.
‘Ahead of the coronation, a significant police operation was launched after we received information protesters were determined to disrupt the coronation procession,’ the force said in a statement. ‘Our activity was targeted at those we believed were intent on taking this action.
‘It was not our intention to prevent protest and whilst the vast masses of the crowd were there to celebrate and witness a once-in-a-generation event, it is very clear a number of protests took place across the footprint both before, during and after the event with no police intervention. Any suggestion all protest was prohibited is not correct.’
Four of the 64 people arrested have been charged while six have been told they will face no further action. It said the remaining ‘more complex’ investigations ‘require more time’.