While not actually apologising, the commissioner for the Met has issued a statement emphasising that the police have been reminded that the right to protest exists and that it is enshrined in law. Is it? I wonder.
What are protesters against the unelected
imposition of a head of state like Charles III – not him personally of course
(though there could be valid objections to his assuming the role given his suspect
character) – but to anyone who gets the top job because, solely because, he
happens to be his mother’s eldest son to do?
Any attempt by the police to interpret laws in a way that restricts reasonable freedom of expression is to be resisted. But how to resist without putting oneself in the way of considerable danger (both social, political, and legal) and of being true to the cause that you think is worth speaking out for?
Some protesters have found a way, by holding up blank pieces of paper and having a large banner on which nothing is written. This is a response to the ill-advised attempt by some hapless policeman to try to arrest someone (in fact a barrister) in Westminster who had held up a blank sheet of paper and asked what would have happened if he had written, “Not My King” on it. He was promptly asked for his details which the barrister refused to give demanding to be told why he was being asked for them, “Because you said you were going to write stuff on it that may offend people around the king . . . it may offend someone.” That sort of response makes any use of an exclamation mark at the end of that extraordinary explanation complete redundant – and of course, inadequate.
“May offend” is an open invitation for its use being employed to ensure our complete lack of freedom of expression. Yes, at a time of national mourning, it could be considered crass or bad manners to protest – but being crass and bad mannered are not criminal offences.
At this time the police should accommodate protest and not be seen to supress it. The police are there to protect ordinary people, they are a non-military force who serve the interests of the general public, and they should need to be reminded of their status and their duties.
I am the first to admit that the policing of a public event like the funeral of the Queen, and the gathering of heads of state concentrating in The Abbey must be a considerable nightmare, and most people recognize that general safety means that some restriction on freedom of movement and access must be allowed. But apart from the family event of the death of a matriarch, it must also be recognized that the whole concept of the way that this country continues to be governed is also a discussion that needs to be protected.
If the police and the government are not careful then they will have given protesters against the anti-democratic imposition of a hereditary ruler imposed on them by tradition the simplest of all protests to show that this is not the way that they wish ruled. All they have to do is hold up a blank piece of paper. No protest is simpler to make: no writing or sloganizing necessary; no use of felt tips and paint brushes, just a simple blankness.
After the vicious governmental oppression during and after the 1st of October Referendum on Independence in 2017, a yellow ribbon became a symbol of support (my Christmas tree in 2017 was covered in them!) and the Spanish government went full paranoid and began banning the colour yellow wherever they could. So, if you were wearing a yellow t-shirt you were not allowed to go into a football match, or enter certain government buildings, in short it became an absurdity, and the symbol of the yellow ribbon grew and grew.
If the authorities are not careful, then the blank sheet of paper could take on a similar significance and become a potent symbol in its own right.
