‘Grateful’ PM says police make decisions on ‘what they think is best’ after coronation arrests backlash
Rishi Sunak has said the Metropolitan Police make decisions on “what they think is best” as he was questioned about their treatment of protesters during the coronation.
The force has faced a backlash after a total of 64 people were arrested on Saturday – including 13 people to “prevent a breach of the peace” and a man with an unused megaphone, who police said could “scare the horses”.
Four people were then charged.
Reports also claimed volunteers who were handing out rape alarms to keep women safe in the early hours of Saturday morning were taken into custody.
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Met Police commander Karen Findlay defended the force’s actions, saying officers policed the coronation “proportionately” and within the “context” of the large-scale event.
But opposition politicians and protest groups have raised concerns officers were heavy-handed and impinged on the right to protest.
Asked about the criticism, the prime minister said: “The police are operationally independent of government, they’ll make these decisions based on what they think is best.
“And actually I am grateful to the police and everyone who played a part in ensuring this weekend has gone so well, so successfully and so safely.
“That was an extraordinary effort by so many people and I am grateful to them for all their hard work.”
Rishi Sunak was speaking from Hertfordshire where he has been volunteering as part of the coronation weekend.
But the chair of the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee, Caroline Russell, said it felt like there had been “a chilling suppression” of protest over the weekend.
Speaking to Sky News, she said the policing seemed “heavy handed”, adding: “It feels as if it was designed to make people afraid to go and protest.
“And I don’t feel comfortable with that as the atmosphere around our rights and our freedoms to protest.”
Earlier, Ms Russell said her committee questions London Mayor Sadiq Khan – who has sought “urgent clarity” around the arrests – and the force every fortnight, “so of course we will be questioning this because I’m sure members of all parties will want to have their questions answered”.
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Graham Smith from Republic: Arrests a ‘serious moment for our democracy’
The arrests came after police were given additional powers to tackle disruptive protests through new government legislation just days before the coronation took place.
The change to the law means demonstrators face up to a year in jail for blocking roads, airports and railways, and lets officers stop and search anyone they suspect is planning to cause disruption.
The head of the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, Graham Smith, said he was arrested before the coronation on Saturday and held in a police cell for 16 hours, despite engagement with the Met for four months over the group’s protest plans.
“The whole thing was a deliberate attempt to disrupt and diminish our protest in order to protect the coronation,” he told the BBC.
“[The Met] has repeatedly said right up until Friday that they had no concerns about our protest plans, they were well aware of what we were going to do and they would engage with us and not disrupt us – so they have repeatedly lied about their intentions and I believe that they had every intention of arresting us prior to doing so.”
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Watch the moment a royal fan confronted anti-monarchy protesters in central London
Asked if, within the context of the coronation – where many thousands wanted to attend the event and celebrate – police were right to take action, Mr Smith said: “That is not an excuse to rob people of their rights, that is not an excuse to arrest people and detain them for 16 hours because some people want to enjoy a party, that is a disgraceful suggestion.
“You have to be able to protest and if some people don’t like the fact that there were protesters there then, frankly, they have to put up with it.
“You cannot say that they have to enjoy a party and therefore other people have to be arrested.”
On Sunday, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper, told Sky News she had “concerns” the force did not get the balance right when it came to ensuring the event went ahead safely while allowing peaceful protest.
“Whether you are royalist or whether you are republican, we should all be able to agree on free speech and the right to protest,” she added.
But Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary, told Sophy Ridge on Sunday the Met “managed to get that balance right”, while deputy chairman of the Conservative party, Lee Anderson, told those who didn’t approve of the celebrations to “emigrate”.
Just 36 aid trucks entered Gaza on Saturday – despite the humanitarian situation in the enclave worsening, Palestinian officials have warned.
According to the Gazan government’s media office, most of the humanitarian supplies were looted and stolen – “as a result of the state of security chaos that the Israeli occupation systematically and deliberately perpetuates”.
Officials say at least 600 truckloads of aid are required on a daily basis, adding: “The needs of the population are worsening.”
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Gaza nurse: ‘We’re rationing care’
A statement released late last night called for “the immediate opening of crossings, and the entry of aid and infant formula in sufficient quantities” – and “condemned in the strongest terms the continuation of the crime of starvation”.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, refuted this – and accused Hamas of “stirring up a slanderous propaganda campaign against Israel”.
He said: “The cruelty of Hamas has no boundaries. While the State of Israel is allowing the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, the terrorists of Hamas are deliberately starving our hostages and document them in a cynical and evil manner.
“The terrorists of Hamas are deliberately starving the residents of the Strip as well, preventing them from receiving the aid.”
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Aid drops continue over Gaza
It comes as the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza said its headquarters in Khan Younis were hit by an Israeli strike, killing one staff member and injuring three others.
Footage posted on social media shows a fire broke out in the building.
Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel for a 60-day ceasefire, and a deal for the release of half the hostages still held in Gaza, ended in deadlock last week.
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy told the families of the hostages yesterday that he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would end the war.
Steve Witkoff arrives to meet families of hostages in Tel Aviv. Pic: AP
Steve Witkoff claimed that Hamas was willing to disarm to stop the conflict, despite the group’s repeated statements that it would not do so.
In response, Hamas said it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.
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After Mr Witkoff’s meeting with the families of the hostages, Hamas released two videos of an emaciated Israeli hostage, Evyatar David, who was abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 and has been held in captivity in Gaza since.
The 24-year-old looked skeletal, with his shoulder blades protruding from his back. He was heard saying that he had not eaten for three days. The distressing videos show him digging his own grave, he said in the footage.
Two videos of an emaciated Israeli hostage, Evyatar David, have been released by Hamas, after US special envoy Steve Witkoff this week met with the families of the hostages.
The now 24-year-old looks skeletal, with his shoulder blades protruding from his back, and says he has not eaten for three days.
The distressing videos show him apparently digging his own grave.
He worked in a restaurant, according to a video posted by Labour Friends of Israel, before he was abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023.
Since then, he has been held in captivity in Gaza, and the videos suggest he is being kept in dark tunnels and surviving on scarce portions of lentils and beans.
Gaza itself is suffering “man-made mass starvation” because of Israel’s blockade on aid to the enclave, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has previously said.
Evyatar David before he was captured by Hamas. Pic: Hostages and Missing Families Forum
In the video, Evyatar David writes on a hand-made calendar on the wall of a tunnel
In the second video, released on Saturday, Mr David – according to the English subtitles – says: “I haven’t eaten for three days.”
The captions continue as he speaks while in an underground tunnel: “There’s no [sic] enough food. I barely get drinking water.”
The video shows him talking through what he ate in July, which has been recorded on a handmade calendar hung up on the side of an underground Gaza tunnel.
Speaking while under captivity and under duress, he adds: “They give me what they can get.”
At the end of the video, he is digging a hole. The subtitle reads: “This is the grave where I think I’m going to be buried in. Time is running out.”
He then appears to break down, crouching on the floor and leaning his head on his arm while still clinging to the shovel.
A poster released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum with photos of Evyatar David released in 2023, February this year and July
In a statement, his family said: “We are forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza – a living skeleton, buried alive.
“Our son has only a few days left to live in his current condition.”
They added: “Israel and the international community must oppose Hamas’s cruelty and ensure that our Evyatar immediately receives proper nutrition.
“The intentional starvation, torture, and abuse of Evyatar for propaganda purposes violate even the lowest standards of humanitarian law and basic human decency.”
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Gaza nurse: ‘We’re rationing care’
‘Famine’ looms in Gaza
On Friday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff visited a site where the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been distributing food in Gaza.
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The controversial GHF scheme has been widely condemned, including by the UK government, after fatal shootings ever since it was set up earlier this year.
According to the United Nations’ human rights office, at least 859 people have been killed “in the vicinity” of GHF aid sites since late May.
The Israel Defence Forces has repeatedly said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians” and has blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians.
Meanwhile, the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IFSPC) this week said a “worst-case scenario of famine” was sinking in across the besieged enclave.
It has also said more than 20,000 children have been treated for acute malnutrition since April.
Families of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are concerned they are also starving, and blame Hamas.
On Saturday, Gaza’s health ministry said a further seven Palestinians had died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours, including a child.
Rescue crews searching for five trapped Chilean miners have discovered a body.
A section of the copper mine had collapsed on Thursday following a strong, 4.2-magnitude tremor.
The remaining four miners are still missing – and rescuers are vowing to continue their search with “strength and hope”.
A man reacts during a vigil at an entrance to El Teniente mine complex. Pic: Reuters/Pablo Sanhueza
Andres Music, general manager of El Teniente mine, said: “This discovery fills us with sadness, but it also tells us that we are in the right place, that the strategy we followed led us to them.”
Crews are trying to drill through 90m (295ft) of rock to reach the trapped miners, but Mr Music said they had not yet made contact with the workers.
Just over a fifth of the blocked underground tunnels have been cleared, with teams hoping to get through about 15m to 20m (49ft to 66ft) every 24 hours using heavy machinery.
He said rescue efforts would continue with increased caution, which could slow progress.
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Two people are now known to have died as a result of the collapse.
Another miner, Paulo Marin Tapia, was found dead on Thursday shortly after the incident.
Codelco, which owns the mine, said the identity of the second man is yet to be confirmed.
Nine other miners were injured.
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