Republicans shut up!

IssueOctober - November 2022
News by David Polden

During the outpourings of grief for the late queen, Elizabeth II, who died on 8 September, a few brave souls attempted to show dissent.

Symon Hill was walking home from church in Oxford on 11 September when he passed a proclamation ceremony for the new king, Charles III. He heard a speaker tell the crowd to accept Charles as their ‘only lawful and rightful liege lord’.

In response, Symon shouted: ‘Who elected him?’. The crowd cried: ‘Shut up!’ Symon was arrested and handcuffed and put in the back of a police van for 30 minutes. He was then de-arrested. Symon is considering suing the police for unlawful arrest.

In Edinburgh at least three people were arrested for breach of the peace for expressing their opinions during the queen’s funeral procession on 12 September.

A barrister tweeted footage of himself being threatened with arrest after he held up a sign saying: ‘Not my king’.

The following day, at an anti-royalty rally in Edinburgh, police harassed protesters holding up blank sheets of paper.

Topics: republicanism