[Diggers350] I was arrested for criticising King Charles. It could happen to you too

Sun Mar 16 01:23:50 GMT 2025

I was arrested for criticising King Charles. It could happen to you too

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/symon-hill-arrested-criticising-king-charles-happen-you-too-3581191?srsltid=AfmBOoq4uZmPcGK4cUYMYFe92HQcCxTiBWaq9JlkLlF-zmf2Q_oc9jBv

Symon Hill was charged with an offence for 
shouting 'Who elected him?' at a coronation 
event. Now he's been awarded £2,500 by the police force who detained him

March 13, 2025

Emacs!

It was a sliding doors moment. Symon Hill was 
never meant to be in Oxford on Sunday 11 
September, 2022. After going to his regular 
morning church service, he planned to walk to the 
station and take a train to Birmingham to visit a 
friend. But she was feeling unwell, so instead, 
he left his Baptist church and turned in the 
opposite direction to walk home, via the city centre.

It was a warm day and the streets were busy with 
shoppers and pub-goers, says 47-year-old Symon 
who now lives in Coventry. There were also 
roadblocks and closures in place in preparation 
for a proclamation ceremony for the new King 
Charles III at Carfax Tower, which made getting 
home a little trickier to navigate.

He ended up stuck at the back of a crowd  of, he 
estimates, a few hundred people  as the event started.

I want to emphasise, this wasnt a crowd of 
diehard royalists, he says. Some had stopped to 
hear, others were trying to get past, it was just 
a normal weekend in the city.

It began with mourning for the late Queen 
Elizabeth II, and then the gathered dignitaries 
declared Charles our only King and rightful 
liege lord. Symon says he found it hard to 
stomach. So he shouted: Who elected him?

A couple of people told him to shut up but says 
most barely heard him  a reporter at the front 
described it as an indistinct heckle.

He was about to head home, when he found himself 
surrounded nose to nose by three security 
guards, who he says told him not to express his 
opinion. He was pushed backwards. Police 
officers then arrested Symon and put him in a van.

This week  two-and-a-half years after the event 
 Symon has been awarded £2,500 in compensation 
from Thames Valley Police, which accepted that 
the arrest  on the grounds of using threatening 
or abusive words or disorderly behaviour likely 
to cause harassment, alarm or distress  was 
unlawful. The CPS had dropped the case in January 2023.

Symon, who works in adult education and is 
training to be a Baptist minister, says even on 
the day it was clear that the police were 
confused. I tried to get a clear answer about 
what law Id been arrested under and the police 
kept contradicting each other, he says  at one 
point he was told he had been detained under the 
1986 Police Public Order Act. They were on the 
radios talking about what to do and it seemed to me they were uncertain.

As he was led down the street in handcuffs, two 
strangers tried to intervene. They were saying 
I dont agree with him, but isnt this a free 
country?. I was so grateful to those two 
people. In police-worn body camera footage 
shared during the legal challenge, officers can 
reportedly be heard saying: We do need to fine 
or de-arrest as we will get a complaint off the back of this.

He was driven home by police to the housing co-op 
where he lived  I was quite shaken  and told 
he would be de-arrested but might later have to come for a voluntary interview.

However, the police went ahead with charging 
Symon. It was later made pretty clear it wasnt 
a voluntary interview and I could be arrested 
if I didnt go, he says. One of the security 
guards alleged I assaulted him  that was the 
scariest moment because assault is a serious 
thing. But I hadnt assaulted anyone, I hadnt 
threatened anyone, I hadnt even used swear words.

Although he has long had anti-monarchy views  
the idea that one person should bow down to 
another just because of an accident of birth, I 
find morally repugnant  Symon never dreamt he 
would be arrested for his behaviour that day. I 
was completely gobsmacked, he says.

Inequality is the central pillar of his objection 
to the Royals. I teach history and Im very 
aware that whatever Charles qualities as an 
individual [head of state], he is King because 
his ancestors fought off other claimants to the 
throne and I think that sets the tone for a 
screwed up way of approaching life and politics.

Am I supposed to tell my goddaughter that those 
royal children are more important than she is? It 
is about treating each other as equals.

Following his compensation this week, he says he 
has mixed emotions. Im relieved it is over 
because I felt it was going on forever, and I was 
pleased to have the acknowledgement that it was unlawful.

Symon was represented by lawyers from the civil 
liberties organisation, Liberty. I am very aware 
that lots of people who are unlawfully arrested 
dont get the chance or this publicity, he says. 
I owe it to other people whove been subject to 
police mistreatment to not just make it about me.

He has had a lot of supportive messages, along 
with some abuse, and accusations of bringing the 
church into disrepute  there were lots of 
arguments in The Church Times letter pages.

The main message he wants people to take away is 
that this could happen to you too. Whatever 
your views, whatever your lifestyle, this could 
happen to you. If we dont change the laws 
relating to protest, if we dont hold the police 
to account, then anybody reading or hearing about 
this case, is at risk of experiencing what I did too.
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