A TRAINEE Baptist minister arrested for shouting “Who elected him?” during a proclamation ceremony for the King described the experience as “bizarre” as he settled legal action and was compensated by police.
Thames Valley Police said they accepted that 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.
Hill, now living in Coventry, was later charged with using threatening or abusive words or disorderly behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, but the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed in 2023 that this had been dropped because the case “did not meet our legal test for a prosecution”.
Having challenged his arrest with the help of human rights organisation Liberty, Hill last month settled a claim with Thames Valley Police and has recently been paid £2500 in compensation.
Hill (below), who was at the time a teacher in adult education and has since taken up training to be a Baptist minister, said the past two-and-a-half years had been “bizarre”.
He told the PA news agency: “I was gobsmacked when I was arrested.”
He said that, 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.
On his initial arrest, he said: “I worry that rights that have been struggled for for centuries are being threatened by new draconian anti-protest laws, by unaccountable police behaviour, by both Labour and Tory governments really not upholding civil liberties and human dignity.”
Describing himself as “anti-monarchy”, Hill 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.
“It’s about not wanting to bow down to another human being.”
In the days after the late Queen’s death, a former counter-terror chief said police had been “overzealous” in their handling of anti-monarchy protesters.
Nick Aldworth said the late Queen would not have wanted “interference with legitimate protest” and branded the actions of some officers “inappropriate over-protectiveness towards the dignity of the event”.
Deputy Chief Constable Ben Snuggs said: “Thames Valley Police has settled a claim with Hill and has accepted that 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.”
Katy Watts, a lawyer at Liberty, said: “A functioning democracy relies on the ability to voice different opinions and discuss them in public spaces. Symon’s wrongful arrest shows how broad anti-protest laws are shutting down people’s freedom of expression.”
She said Hill (below) had been “needlessly funnelled into the criminal justice system and the admittance of wrongful arrest by Thames Valley Police shows that we can voice an opinion in public spaces”.
“We must urgently see a review of the broad anti-protest legislation to ensure that what happened to Symon cannot be allowed to happen again.”
Anti-monarchy campaign Republic has backed Liberty's call for an urgent review of anti-protest legislation.
Eight Republic activists were arrested on the morning of the King's coronation, which the group claims the Met Police are "continuing to drag their feet on admitting wrong-doing".
Graham Smith, a spokesperson for Republic, said: "Protest has been the midwife of democracy in the UK and around the world. It is also a crucial line of defence against authoritarianism and draconian powers.
"It is absolutely essential the government looks again at the dreadful anti-protest laws in this country. They impose excessive restrictions on peaceful protest and enable the kind of police action faced by Symon Hill, Republic and many others.
"Symon had absolutely every right to express his view in public. No law was broken, it is clear the police knew that, yet they went as far as charging him.
"As well as a review of protest law there needs to be consequences for police officers who commit unlawful arrests. I hope the officers in Symon's case face disciplinary action for their appalling abuse of power.
"Republic will certainly continue to protest against the monarchy at every opportunity and answering Symon's question with a very simple 'no-one'."
A Home Office spokesperson 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.”
