Published 12th Sep, 2022

By Joseph Adeiye

Symon Hill, a history tutor at Workers’ Educational Association Adult Learning Within Reach, has narrated how police officers arrested him after he questioned King Charles III’s ascension to the UK throne.

He said he was arrested after he asked “Who elected him?” at Charles’ proclamation in Oxford on Sunday.

“I knew that Charles Windsor would be declared “King Charles III” in official ceremonies around the UK today (Sunday). I had assumed they would be fairly small-scale,” Hill narrated on Bright Green.

“It was only when I went to church this morning that I learnt that there was not only a proclamation in Oxford but a procession that would start just outside our church. I was feeling sad and angry as I left church and walked past the cordoned off streets and saw the dignitaries and military leaders standing on the steps of Carfax Tower in clothing more suited to the sixteenth century. This, apparently, is how we proclaim a new head of state in twenty-first century Britain.”

Hill had announced his arrest on Twitter earlier on Sunday. His tweet, just 45 words long with ”#NotMyKing” concluding it, has had over 30,000 reactions so far.

Hill gave details of the circumstances surrounding his arrest in his Bright Green article after responding to hundreds of comments.

“It was only when they declared Charles to be ‘King Charles III’ that I called out ‘Who elected him?’ I doubt most of the people in the crowd even heard me. Two or three people near me told me to shut up. I didn’t insult them or attack them personally, but responded by saying that a head of state was being imposed on us without our consent,” Hill said.

“A security guard appeared, stood right in front of me and told me to be quiet. Two more security guards came along and they tried to push me backwards. As I asked them to give the legal basis for what they were doing, the police came over, more or less moved the security guards out of the way and took hold of me.

“I was outraged that they were leading me away, but was taken aback when they told me they were arresting me. I have no illusions about the police’s questionable relationship with the law, but I seemed to have been arrested for nothing more than expressing an opinion in public. They gave me confused answers when I asked on what grounds I had been arrested.”

Hill said the police officers handcuffed him and kept him in a police van. He said a police officer de-arrested him after a radio conversation but told him that the police would want to interview him at a later date. The officers drove Hill home in a police van.

“At first I was told that the sergeant who had arrested me would know the reason. This was an appalling answer. Eventually, on the way home, I was told that I had been arrested under the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Act 2022 (the outrageous act passed earlier this year) for actions likely to lead to ‘harassment or distress,”’ Hill explained.

“This isn’t about me. It’s about our freedom to choose our own system of government, to elect our own leaders and to express our own views. I’m not asking you to support me. I’m asking you to support democracy.”

Officers also arrested a woman outside St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh for holding a sign protesting against the monarchy. The sign read ”f*** imperialism, abolish monarchy”.

This happened moments before the proclamation of Charles III as new king on Sunday afternoon.

A police spokesperson said that the police arrested a 22-year-old woman “in connection with a breach of the peace”.

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