Police pay compensation to anti-monarchy protester

A man arrested for shouting "who elected him?" during a proclamation ceremony for the King has been paid £2,500 in compensation.

Thames Valley Police said it accepted the grounds of the offence for which Symon Hill was arrested in September 2022 "were unlawful".

The 47-year-old had been walking home from church when he stopped and called out during the ceremony at Carfax Tower in Oxford and was handcuffed and arrested.

The event, which took place three days after the late Queen's death, was one of many ceremonies in cities and towns across the UK where a proclamation of accession of Charles to the throne was read aloud.

Mr Hill, who was a teacher in adult education at the time but has since taken up training to be a Baptist minister, said the past two-and-a-half years had been "bizarre".

Describing himself as "anti-monarchy", he said: "To me, my objection to monarchy is rooted in my belief in the equal value of all human beings, it's connected to my Christian faith.

"It's about wanting to treat other people as equals, and for them to treat me as an equal."

Mr Hill, now living in Coventry, said while he had received hundreds of supportive messages from strangers in the aftermath of his arrest, he had also been subject to abusive comments and death threats.

He had been charged with using threatening or abusive words or disorderly behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

The Crown Prosecution Service later dropped the case as it "did not meet our legal test for a prosecution".

Having challenged his arrest with the help of human rights organisation Liberty, Mr Hill last month settled a claim with Thames Valley Police.

Deputy Chief Constable Ben Snuggs said the force had accepted "the grounds of the offence for which he was arrested were unlawful".

"Public order and public safety operations are a key part of policing and it's important we use these circumstances to help shape our future response," he added.

The Home Office said: "The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy, and it is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to demonstrate their views, provided that they do so within the law."

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