Coronation: Southsea man arrested at anti-monarchy protest will face no further action

Elliott Lee, who was a Green Party candidate in last week’s Portsmouth City Council elections, confirmed the Metropolitan Police has decided to drop its investigation.

He was initially arrested for breach of the peace in The Mall by police officers who found a megaphone in his backpack and claimed its use would disturb horses taking part in the procession. He was further arrested for conspiracy to commit public nuisance before being released under investigation at 2am on Sunday.

Sixty-four arrests were made on Saturday, with 52 of these related to concerns people were going to disrupt the event.

Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, said these were made after the force became ‘extremely concerned’ by intelligence which ‘included people intent on using rape alarms and loud hailers as part of their protest which would have caused distress to military horses’.

The Metropolitan Police denied claims protest was prohibited.

But Mr Lee said its actions had set a ‘dangerous’ precedent for people’s right to protest.

‘The way I see it, there were hundreds of thousands of people in London on Saturday to demonstrate,’ he said. ‘Most of them were there to support the king but there was a group of us there for a peaceful protest against the monarchy.

‘The right to protest has been stripped away, it’s an incredibly worrying precedent.’

The former St Thomas ward candidate said on Wednesday night (May 10) that he had been told no charges were being pursued and called on the force to issue an apology.

‘I am now happy to confirm that the Met has decided to take no further action,’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘Bail has been cancelled and the investigation dropped. They know who the guilty ones are here… Now an apology?’