14/05/2023
Although it is fair to say that the LGBTQIA+ communities have a wide variety of views on the monarchy as an institution, one thing that is agreed is that the right to protest against any aspect of authority is to be defended. After all, our communities have had to do so many times in the past.
The arbitrary arrest of dozens of people from a variety of protest groups, during the King's Coronation, all of whom were later released without charge, despite braying by the right wing press, has had a silver lining. Although the government rushed through anti-protest legislation, which has been slammed by all human rights organisations, the public have sided with the protesters. with groups who were present at the Coronation, like Republic, receiving tens of thousands of pounds in donations and its membership nearly double. The Guardian reports that republic's CEO Graham Smith remarked "“People understand it’s quite worrying if the law allows police to arrest the most peaceful of peaceful protests. I think it has done the police an awful lot of reputational damage. A lot of the coverage of the coronation was dominated by these arrests.” The human rights activist Peter Tatchell remarked on Facebook "Police accused of lying to anti-monarchy protesters. They said Saturday’s non-disruptive protest for an elected head of state was fine, then arrested the leaders. What is the point of protesters liaising with the police & getting protests approved if police promises turn out to be a lie? Police breaking their agreement & assurances has “destroyed whatever trust might have existed between peaceful protesters & the Metropolitan Police,” says Graham Smith, the head of the campaign group Republic, which organised the protest with police permission & then was arrested for possessing placards."
