Anti-monarchy group says its members were arrested ahead of planned coronation protest

The anti-monarchy group Republic says several of its members have been arrested as they prepared to protest the coronation of King Charles III.

The group plans to hold placards and chant “Not my king” during the monarch’s procession to Westminster Abbey. It says police were informed in advance of its plans.

But on Saturday morning several of the group’s members were stopped near Trafalgar Square and led to police vans.

Others managed to protest along the route, dressed in yellow and waving placards with slogans including “king parasite” and “abolish the monarchy.”

Police have said they will have have a “low tolerance” for people seeking to disrupt the day, sparking criticism that they are clamping down on free speech.

More than 1,500 protesters had planned to gather beside it to chant “Not my king” as the royal procession goes by. “We’ll try and keep the atmosphere light, but our aim is to make it impossible to ignore,” said Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic.

The coronation, he said, is “a celebration of a corrupt institution. And it is a celebration of one man taking a job that he has not earned.”

Republican activists have long struggled to build momentum to dislodge Britain’s 1,000-year-old monarchy. But they see the coronation as a moment of opportunity.

Opinion polls suggest opposition and apathy to the monarchy are both growing. In a recent study by the National Center for Social Research, just 29% of respondents thought the monarchy was “very important” – the lowest level in the center’s 40 years of research on the subject. Opposition was highest among the young.