King's Coronation: Arrested heckler vows to protest

A man arrested after making anti-monarchist comments at a proclamation ceremony for King Charles says he will protest on the day of the Coronation.

Symon Hill, 45, from Oxford, was handcuffed and charged after he called out "who elected him?", but the charges were later dropped.

He said: "I am seriously worried that I will be arrested again."

The Metropolitan Police said it would take a tough line with protesters who disrupt the event.

Mr Hill was caught up in crowds for the ceremony at Carfax Tower in September, and heckled when King Charles III was declared the new monarch.

He said some of the crowd told him to "shut up", and officers arrested him and put him in a police van before driving him home.

He was charged with using threatening or abusive words or disorderly behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, and scheduled to appear at Oxford Magistrates' Court.

But a spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said "as part of its duty to keep cases under review" the CPS decided to "discontinue the matter."

The police operation around the Coronation will be one of the largest in history.

Protests and any threats to crowds will be closely monitored, with the Public Order Act coming into effect on Wednesday.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat said anti-monarchy groups had the "liberty that anybody in the United Kingdom has to protest, what they don't have the liberty to do is to disrupt others".

Deputy assistant commissioner of police Ade Adelekan said: "We have an extremely low threshold for anybody or anything that will disrupt this event and what you will see is very swift action from us."

Mr Hill fears arrests will be made on "spurious grounds".

He said: "I find the deputy assistant commissioner's comments really alarming.

"Back in September, several people, including me, were arrested for voicing dissent to monarchy.

"After that, senior police officers made comments about respecting the right to protest, but that didn't last long.

"If the police were simply applying the law in a neutral way as they often claim, this would include respecting the right to protest, not choosing their own 'thresholds' for peaceful dissent."

He said "ludicrous claims" in newspapers about plans for violent disruption were contributing to an "atmosphere that seems to be aimed at deterring people from exercising their right to peaceful protest".

He added: "This all makes me more nervous, but more determined, to protest against monarchy on Saturday."

The Republic protest in central London has been organised in co-operation with the Metropolitan Police.

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