A cabinet minister has said that King Charles’s coronation presents an opportunity to showcase the UK’s liberty, despite the government’s fast-tracking of legislation to clamp down on protests.
Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, defended the new laws, which include a 12-month prison sentence for protesters who obstruct roads, and a six-month prison sentence or unlimited fine for anyone who locks on to objects, others, or buildings. Police officers will also be able to stop and search protesters who they suspect intend to cause “disruption.”
Anti-monarchist groups intending to stage peaceful protests at the coronation have received official warning letters. Nevertheless, the cabinet minister insisted that people would still have the freedom to protest.
“The coronation is a chance for the United Kingdom to showcase our liberty and democracy, that’s what this security arrangement is doing,” Tugendhat told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Empowering people to come together, freely, openly and demonstrating security can be a liberator, not like in authoritarian states where it is a controller.”
Anti-Monarchists
He said anti-monarchists would still “have the liberty to protest but they would not have the liberty to disrupt others. That’s where we’re drawing a difference”.
The security minister refused to be drawn on the guidelines to hosting a “non-disruptive protest”, to avoid people “finding loopholes”, but said planning for the coronation had been a very complex police and intelligence operation.
“We’re not just thinking of our own security but the security of heads of states, and we’re dealing with protest groups who have nothing to do with UK but to do with foreign leaders visiting the UK,” he said.
When asked if police had had enough time to process and digest the new laws they will be enforcing this week, Tugendhat said: “We passed the laws to give police powers they’ve asked for for months. This is not to do with coronation but we’ve seen the nature of protest become so much more disruptive and intrusive. We can’t deliver on the five pledges if we can’t get the economy going.”
