'Who Elected Him?’: Two Arrested Over Anti-Monarchy Protests in Oxford, Edinburgh

On Saturday, Charles III was formally proclaimed the King of the UK at St. James Palace in London during an Accession Council meeting. The royal automatically became king when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, “peacefully” passed away on September 8.

Police detained two protesters, who expressed anti-monarchy sentiments at separate ceremonies for the proclamation of UK King Charles III in Oxford and Edinburgh late last week.

Symon Hill, a 45-year-old history tutor and peace activist, told reporters that he was arrested for shouting, “Who elected him?” when the proclamation was read out in Oxford.

In an interview with The Guardian, he argued that he had come across the event by chance as he was on his way home from church. Hill said that after he cried out the words, some people who stood nearby told him to “shut up” and that he responded by saying, “A head of state has been imposed on us without our consent.”

He also said that several security guards approached him before police intervened and took him to a police van despite frustration by others, who defended his right to free expression.

The 45-year-old stressed that he didn’t think he has ever seen “anyone arrested on such threadbare grounds, let alone experienced it” himself.

“I didn’t in any meaningful sense disrupt the ceremony; I just called out something that a few people near me would have heard, and then they carried on with the ceremony, and they [the police] collared me. I find it really alarming that you can be arrested for expressing an opinion in public. I am feeling quite shaken,” Hill added.

In a separate interview with the Independent, he described the incident as “a massive misuse of police power,” insisting that “the fact that at first they [police] didn’t know why they’d arrested me was worrying.”

A Thames Valley police spokesperson in turn said that a man had been arrested “in connection with a disturbance that was caused during the county proclamation ceremony of King Charles III in Oxford.”

The spokesperson also said that the man “had subsequently been de-arrested” and was engaging with police “voluntarily” as they investigate “a public order offence.” According to the spokesperson, the man was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence [under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986].”

Section 5 allows police to detain an individual over behavior that is deemed likely to cause alarm, harassment, or distress.

The Oxford incident came as a young woman holding a sign reading, “F**k imperialism, abolish monarchy” was detained in Edinburgh on Saturday, moments before the reading of the proclamation. The arrest occurred outside St. Giles’ Cathedral, where the Queen’s coffin is due to lie in rest on Monday.

A police spokesperson said that a 22-year-old woman had been arrested in connection with a breach of the peace, with the Independent reporting that the crowd applauded when officers took away the protester. According to the newspaper, someone in the crowd was heard shouting “Republic now” during the proclamation.

On September 10, proclamations were read in ceremonies across the UK to formally announce that Queen Elizabeth II had died and King Charles III had acceded the throne, in line with a tradition dating back hundreds of years.