Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has defended the policing of the coronation, describing the arrest of six anti-monarchy campaigners as "unfortunate" but stressing that he supports the arresting officers' actions.
Six people from Republic had been arrested during a protest against the coronation in London on Saturday.
London's chief cop has now written a comment piece explaining his officer's actions at the event which was watched around the world.
The force had said it had arrested the group using new powers under the much-criticised Public Order Act, but it has since been determined items found alongside a large number of placards could not be used as "lock-on devices" to cause disruption.
A chief inspector and two other officers personally apologised to anti-monarchy group Republic chief executive Graham Smith, he claims, over what he called a "disgraceful episode".
They visited Mr Smith at his home in Reading, Berkshire, tonight following his near 16 hours in police custody, after Republic held peaceful protests on Saturday. Mr Smith and five others have been told they face no further action.
But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had earlier backed Scotland Yard over the dozens of arrests of other protesters ahead of King Charles' Coronation.
In an article for the London Evening Standard, Sir Mark wrote: "By Friday evening, only twelve hours from the Coronation, we had become extremely concerned by a rapidly developing intelligence picture suggesting the Coronation could suffer. This included people intent on using rape alarms and loud hailers as part of their protest which would have caused distress to military horses. We also had intelligence that people intended to extensively vandalise monuments, throw paint at the procession, and incur on to the route.
"Adding to our concerns, military colleagues shared their worries about how some of this disruption would significantly unsettle their 160 strong mounted regiments, with the potential of causing multiple serious injuries and compromising public safety. The threat was so concerning that on Friday the Home Secretary and Mayor were given late night briefings as plans were being put in place."
"Clearly, this would not only have been unlawful, but also extremely dangerous. Officers worked around the clock to try to identify the full criminal network, establish the detail of their plans, and make arrests. While we said that our tolerance for disruption of the Coronation celebrations was low, it was not zero. I must challenge those claiming there was a ‘protest ban’ around the Coronation. This is simply not accurate."
He went on to say that officers reported "celebrating crowds applauding" as they made 17 arrests in The Mall area close to the procession.
Sir Mark added that he wanted to share the police tactics to reassure the public.
