A minister defended the controversial arrests of peaceful protesters at King Charles III’s coronation on Saturday, claiming that the police were right to act as “we were on the global stage” (Anti-coronation protest leader hits out at police over arrests, 7 May). Surely on the global stage we want to be seen as a democracy that defends the right to free speech and protest, not an authoritarian state where you are only free to express support for the powers that be.
Although I am neutral about the principle of a monarchy, I felt the need to join the protest by Republic because I was so upset by the way the coronation was being promoted as something that we all supported. It seemed to me that longstanding democratic freedoms were jettisoned so that confected images of a successful non-contentious event could be projected.
Caroline Hearst
Reading, Berkshire
