Met Police Chief Reveals How Protesters Planned to Disrupt Coronation

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, takes an oath to King Charles III at New Scotland Yard in central London on Sept. 12, 2022. PA

Protesters at the coronation were planning to use rape alarms and loud hailers, as well as vandalise monuments and throw paint at the procession, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has revealed.

Months of planning were to be undermined by people who, according to Rowley, were posing a security threat to the crowds and the procession.

“By Friday evening, only 12 hours from the coronation, we had become extremely concerned by a rapidly developing intelligence picture suggesting the coronation could suffer. This included people intent on using rape alarms and loud hailers as part of their protest which would have caused distress to military horses. We also had intelligence that people intended to extensively vandalise monuments, throw paint at the procession, and incur on to the route,” Rowley wrote in the Evening Standard.

The police also received concerns about how some of this disruption would significantly unsettle their 160-strong mounted regiments, with the potential of causing multiple serious injuries and compromising public safety.

“The threat was so concerning that on Friday the Home Secretary and Mayor were given late-night briefings as plans were being put in place,” the commissioner wrote.

The police found people in possession of possible lock-on devices and others who “appeared to be purporting to be stewards of the event in possession of plastic bottles containing white paint,” reported Rowley.

He added that the bottles were “specifically to be used to criminally disrupt the procession and resulted in arrests for going equipped to commit criminal damage.”

‘Reasonable Suspicion’

Dubbed Operation Golden Orb, the security strategy for the coronation involved 1,500 officers and staff and volunteers across the Met, as well as 6,500 military ceremonial troops.

A total of 64 arrests made on the day included six people planning to protest the coronation. Among them was the head of the anti-monarchy group Republic, Graham Smith. The six people missed the coronation and were subsequently released, as the investigation has been unable to prove intent to use the seized items “to lock on and disrupt the event.”

Rowley has defended the police officers who patrolled the king’s coronation on May 6. He praised the force for ensuring public security in what he described as the largest security operation the Metropolitan Police has ever led.

Speaking out amid the criticism of police for detaining protesters, Rowley noted that the six Republic protesters were arrested based on “reasonable suspicion” under the new Section 2 Public Order Act 2023 offence of Being Equipped to Lock On.

“While it is unfortunate that the six people affected by this were unable to join the hundreds of peaceful protestors, I support the officers’ actions in this unique fast-moving operational context,” Rowley said.

The Met remains adamant policing the king’s coronation was “about thinking public service first.” However, a Republic protester has argued that he was arrested “for daring to speak out against the king.”

Smith has called for a full inquiry into the police’s actions on the day. The anti-monarchists have also argued that the arrests were “not about protecting people from harm, but about protecting the king from embarrassment.”

Rowley called the “ill-informed commentary on the day” inaccurate.

“While we said that our tolerance for disruption of the coronation celebrations was low, it was not zero. I must challenge those claiming there was a ‘protest ban’ around the coronation. This is simply not accurate. There were hundreds of undisturbed protestors along the route including a large group in Trafalgar Square, although small in comparison to the tens of thousands seeking to enjoy the event,” he wrote.

The coronation saw mass gatherings of people across the capital, there to witness the coronation of King Charles III. Days ahead of the coronation, the government gave the green light to the Public Order Bill, under which the police were given extended stop and search powers.