A government minister has been accused of relying on “imaginary things” while defending the heavily-criticised policing of the coronation.
Neil O’Brien was questioned by Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News after an outcry over the arrest of anti-monarchy campaigners and women’s safety volunteers during the pageantry to mark King Charles officially ascending to the throne. All have been released without charge.
Facing a backlash over its heavy-handed approach, Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley has insisted police had “serious and reliable intelligence” that protesters planned to disrupt the coronation.
He said that suspects were found with bottles of white paint and that there was intelligence to suggest that some may use rape alarms or loud hailers during the coronation procession.
There were concerns among military personnel that loud noises could unsettle horses and cause multiple injuries, he said.
On Channel 4 News, O’Brien said: “On the one hand, obviously, sometimes the police get it wrong and there will be mistakes and it’s right that they apologise when that happens.
“On the other hand, they did bring off this fantastic national event, in a very smooth way and they were right, I think, to intervene where there are people who want to come and do dangerous things like setting off rape alarms, potentially deliberately startling horses and potentially all kinds of things could happen.”
Guru-Murthy tried to intervene by saying: “But they weren’t ... you’re talking about imaginary things.”
O’Brien: “You say this an imaginary thing ... if they had been allowed to cause all kinds of chaos, and there’d been all sorts of disruption ...”
Guru-Murthy: “You’re imagining something that didn’t happen ...”
O’Brien: “You’d then be saying the police should have intervened earlier.”
Six campaigners for the group Republic, which had liaised with the Met to organise a coronation day protest in Trafalgar Square, were arrested early on Saturday on suspicion of going equipped to lock-on. They were released 16 hours later.
Volunteers for charity Night Star, that hands out rape alarms to women on their way home from nights out, were arrested in the early hours of Saturday in Soho in central London.
In the Commons, Home Office minister Chris Philp, referred to “more than one plot to cause severe disruption by placing activated rape alarms in the path of horses to induce a stampede, and a separate plot to douse participants in the procession with paint”.
In total 64 people were arrested over the weekend, 52 over concerns that the coronation may be disrupted.