The coronation, however, has taken place in the midst of the cost of living crisis and rising civil unrest and, due to the suspected protesting of the event, Met police issued a warning via twitter that “Our tolerance for any disruption, whether through protest or otherwise, will be low. We will deal robustly with anyone intent on undermining this celebration.” A threat that was acted on over the weekend as Met Police arrested 50 peaceful protesters, none of which posed any risk to the public or coronation celebrations.
The Met police were empowered to act this way. As the coronation approached, government pushed through anti-protesting legislation in less than a week (this legislation usually takes years as people protest the need for it) in an ‘effort to protect the coronation celebrations’ – this legislation is just a stronger reincarnation of anti-protest bills previously proposed by government.
Included in the arrests were 3 women in Soho, volunteers with the Night Stars Program who patrol busy areas of London, and who are partnered with the Met Police, trying to protect people against sexual assault on the streets of London. These volunteers were arrested at 2am in Soho for the offence of carrying rape whistles, which they weren’t using at the time of the arrest, and, even though they patrol the area every night, it was an especially important time as the coronation was dragging in bigger crowds to the area. When questioned about these events, the Met police put out a statement on twitter saying they had heard rumors that protesters where “planning to throw rape alarms” to disrupt the coronation. Furthermore, the three women were held in custody for 14hours and where seen leaving the station ‘in tears’.
This incident just adds to the Met’s long history of failing Sexual assault victims as two Met officers have already been arrested this month for the alleged kidnap and rape of a woman in central London. When asked why the whistles where not safe for the coronation, the Met sent out another tweet stating “there was particular concern from military colleagues that this would scare their horses involved in the procession and, as a result, cause significant risk to the safety of the public and the riders.” This, however, raised issues of public safety concerns as the coronation promised to be an event filled with noise and scenes in which the horses could become ‘spooked’.
The behaviour of Met Police in recent years has been at odds with their oaths to protect the public and, with threats to the public issued on the coronation weekend, and the force actively taking volunteers of the streets, who they work with daily, who are trying to stop sexual assaults, it doesn’t appear that their behaviour will change anytime soon.
