Tory MPs slam 'heavy-handed' protest bill - as Met chief defends Coronation arrests despite criticism
9 May 2023, 23:48 | Updated: 10 May 2023, 09:22
There is growing anger among a section of Tory MPs over the introduction of the Public Order Act, which gave police more powers to prevent disruption in the lead-up to the Coronation.
The Public Order Act, which was given royal assent four days before the Coronation, aims to grant police with new powers so they can take a "proactive" approach in stopping disruptive protests - this led to a number of coronation protest arrests.
A number of Conservative MPs opposed the bill as the Metropolitan Police was forced to apologise to anti-monarchy protestors who were arrested before they began demonstration on Saturday, May 6.
Former Cabinet minister David Davis told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr: "There’s an issue about what’s legal and I think we’ve lost sight of it.
"The right to demonstrate - to be seen, and within reason, to be heard, is pretty much absent these days. But the right to disrupt things is not.
“The truth is, you have a piece of law, that goes into law, and seven days later the Commissioner of the Met has to apologise to people he’s wrongfully arrested under that law.
“It says there’s something wrong, doesn’t it?"
Anti-monarchist arrests were 'unconscionable' says Iain Dale
Asked by Andrew what is wrong with the bill, Mr Davis replied: "It’s too heavy-handed - it and its predecessor - but also too vague."
It comes after the Met said earlier on Tuesday that they "regret" the arrests of six anti-monarchy protestors at the Coronation.
The Met said a review concluded there was no proof the group of activists were planning to "lock on" - a now regular tactic employed by protestors which has been banned under the law.
Prior to the Coronation, republican protesters and a Just Stop Oil activist were seen being arrested by Metropolitan Police officers, with signs saying 'Not My King' being collected by the force.
But on Tuesday, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley defended the actions of his officers, saying people dressed as Coronation stewards brought lock-on devices and white paint that they planned to use to criminally disrupt the event.
Praising his officers for their efforts at the Coronation, Sir Mark said: "I want to be absolutely clear - our activity was targeted at those we believed were intent on causing serious disruption and criminality.
"Serious and reliable intelligence told us that the risks were very real."
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The Met's expression of regret has not been enough for the Public Order Act's critics, including Tory MP Sir Charles Walker, who told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr that he originally voted against it.
"I did absolutely not vote for it - I voted against that bill at third reading, I spoke against it, I tabled amendments against it," Sir Charles said.
"I think the Public Order Bill, we saw the policing of protests over the Coronation weekend - I entirely disagree with my party on that," he added.
"More importantly, I warned when we were criminalising protest during the Covid lockdowns where it would all end up."
On Saturday, some 64 people were arrested in total on the day of Charles' Coronation on Saturday, with 52 linked to suspected event disruption.
Sir Mark said that the threat of disruption was so concerning that both Home Secretary Suella Braverman and London mayor Sadiq Khan were given late night briefings on the situation on Friday.
Anti-monarchy group Republic saw members including head Graham Smith detained by police close to Trafalgar Square.
Just Stop Oil activist Ben Larsen said he was on The Mall to peacefully protest when police began detaining those suspected of causing disruption - many, it's been revealed, using new police anti-protest powers.
He was seen telling Metropolitan Police officers: “You’ve searched me and haven’t found s***.”A police officer replied: “You need to educate yourself on what peaceful protest is.”
Campaign group Human Rights Watch said the arrests were “incredibly alarming”.
It added: “This is something you would expect to see in Moscow not London.”
