Graham Smith at a protest before last year’s coronation
By Harrison Jones
BBC News
A republican protester detained on the day of King Charles’ Coronation is taking legal action against the Metropolitan Police.
Graham Smith, the head of anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, held discussions with officers ahead of the demonstration and claims there was no justification for his arrest.
The case may be seen as a legal test of the powers given to police last year.
The Met confirmed it was aware of legal action but declined to comment further.
Mr Smith has asked the force for an apology while applying for a judicial review on the decision to detain him and five other demonstrators.
But the Republic chief executive also wants officers to admit the arrests were unlawful and is seeking damages and costs.
The six members of Republic were held on suspicion of going equipped to ‘lock on’ – a tactic some protesters use to make themselves difficult to move – because they were in possession of luggage straps to secure their placards.
Mr Smith, who was held for more than 14 hours, had discussed the planned demonstration for four months with senior Met staff.
He claims to have been physically prevented from calling the Met’s designated liaison officer when he was stopped and arrested on 6 May 2022. Two days later, the group were told no further action would be taken.
Mr Smith called the arrests “an appalling attack on the rights of peaceful protesters” and told the BBC earlier that he felt it was “part of a deliberate effort to diminish and disrupt our protest”.
“I have no doubt senior officers intervened and sought to minimise the impact our protest may have had”, he argued.
“They certainly had no grounds for arrest or detention, and no grounds for suspecting intent to lock on. The straps were neither intended nor capable of locking on, and the law requires suspicion of intent.”
The group were detained after new legislation came into effect days before the event that created new offences of locking on or going equipped to lock on under the Public Order Act.
The Home Office declined to comment.
In a statement, the Met said: “We can confirm that a Judicial Review Claim has been issued and it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing proceedings.”
Officers were also heavily criticised for alleged heavy-handedness over other arrests linked to the coronation.
