Current and Former British Politicians and PMs News and General Chat

[TLLK]

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks out on protesters arrested at Coronation ? Royal Central

The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has defended the actions of the Metropolitan Police following the decision to arrest members of the anti-monarchy group, Republic, ahead of the Coronation.

The group?s leader Graham Smith was among the people arrested. He was later released, as were the other 64 people detained. The Metropolitan Police issued a statement saying they regretted the arrests as they had found no proof of intent to disrupt the Coronation.

However, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has expressed his support for the police force and their actions, not just on May 6th 2023, but in the days before the Coronation, saying in part: ?Of course, people have the right to protest freely, but peacefully, but it is also right that people have the ability to go about their day-to-day lives without facing serious disruption. And what the government has done is give police the powers that they need to tackle instances of serious disruption to their lives.?

The Prime Minister is referencing a law passed just days before the Coronation, the Public Order Act, which allows officers to stop and search anyone they suspect is planning to cause disruption.

The Conservative government has defended the law, saying that people have been complaining about apparent inaction in the face of other protests by other groups that, over the last few weeks and months, have caused disruption to people?s daily lives.

Opposition parties have accused the government of undermining the United Kingdom?s ?basic tenets of a free and democratic society,? calling for the act to be scrapped.

Rishi Sunak told reporters that ?police will make decisions on when they use? the powers given to them by the Public Order Act.

Mr Sunak added: ?We also live in a society where the police are rightly operationally independent of government. They make the decisions on the ground in the way that they see fit. [?] It wouldn?t be right for me to interfere with their operational decision. But it is right for the government to give police the powers they need to tackle serious disruptions [?] but again those are operational decisions for the police on the ground at the time.?
Share this: