Abolish the Monarchy Now!

By New Worker correspondent

British republicans have condemned the Metropolitan Police's oppressive treatment of protesters, who had gathered in their thousands in Trafalgar Square to denounce Charles III's coronation as the country's king. The protesters against the antiquated monarchical system said on Sunday that there is now no longer a right to peaceful protest in Britain after dozens of republican demonstrators were arrested.
    Overall, some 64 people were rounded up during the ceremony at Westminster Abbey before King Charles and Queen Camilla were driven back to Buckingham Palace. The police described the alleged offences that had led to the arrests as a breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
    Those detained included Graham Smith, the leader of the Republic movement which campaigns for the abolition of the monarchical system in the United Kingdom and its replacement with a directly elected head of state.
    "This was a heavy-handed action which had the appearance of a pre-determined arrest that would have occurred regardless of the evidence or our actions. The right to protest peacefully in the UK no longer exists," Smith said. "These arrests were not about protecting people from harm, but about protecting the King from embarrassment."
    “I have campaigned on the issue of the monarchy for twenty years,” Smith said. “Time and again I have been told the monarchy protects us from tyranny, that the monarch guards our democracy and freedoms, defending us against the excesses of government. These arrests put the lie to those claims and are another example of the weakness of our constitution and the failure of our constitutional monarchy.
    “The Crown is one part of our failing constitution that concentrates too much power in the hands of government at the expense of parliament and people. We need a fundamental shift in power. We need elected representatives who are able to resist such draconian laws as those introduced this week, and a constitution that empowers the people to defend their rights.
    “These arrests have also destroyed whatever trust might have existed between peaceful protesters and the Metropolitan police. What is the point in being open and candid with the police, working with their liaison officers and meeting senior commanders, if all their promises and undertakings turn out to be a lie?
    “It is notable that King Charles has said nothing about these arrests. Rather than defend our liberty and values he is content celebrating his anointment as monarch while citizens are locked up. What is the point of a head of state who will say nothing and do nothing to defend the people?
    “These arrests were not about protecting people from harm, but about protecting the King from embarrassment. It was the state wanting to stamp down dissent in order to present an image of a grateful and consenting public at the time of the coronation”.
    Trying to explain the reason behind the arrests, the police however, alleged that their so-called duty to prevent disruption outweighed the right to protest.
    Republic said that its members began to be released late on Saturday evening after nearly 16 hours in custody.
    The Metropolitan Police had deployed some 11,500 officers for one of its biggest-ever security operations for the day of the coronation. The police had warned that it would have an "extremely low threshold" for protests, and controversially planned to use mass facial recognition technology to monitor the crowds.
    "Our tolerance for any disruption, whether through protest or otherwise, will be low," the Met warned in the run-up to the coronation. "We will deal robustly with anyone intent on undermining this celebration."
    The Republic movement was set up in 2006 to raise the case for a republic to a wider audience while scrutinising the actions of the royal household. It is strictly non-party political and claims to have over 80,000 supporters.

Wall of sound silences fascists in Croydon

by New Worker correspondent

LUNAR House in Croydon is the Home Office’s place where immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are required by law to go to register if they want to be allowed to remain in Britain. For this reason it has often been the target of racists and fascists who want to demonstrate their hatred for all immigrants and to lobby for a ban on immigration.

The South-East Alliance (SEA), a small group of assorted racists and fascists – former members of the English Defence League, the British National Party, the National Front and others – planned to hold a protest rally last Saturday outside Lunar House against immigration.

The date they chose was just one week after a brutal racist attack outside the Goat pub in Croydon by about 30 racists on a Kurdish-Iranian boy, Reker Ahmed, who was left fighting for his life in hospital.

Unite Against Fascism (UAF) responded with a counter rally, starting two hours before the planned SEA protest, drawing around 100 local trade unionists, activists from DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts), Wandsworth Against Cuts and many other groups. The civil service union PCS was there in strength – it represents many of the workers in Lunar House, who are fed up with racist activities and intimidations on their doorstep.

There were trades council banners from Croydon and Bromley and scores of placards saying that immigrants are welcome.

As two o’clock approached police herded these anti-fascists into a specially prepared pen and started preparing another pen about 50 yards away for the SEA supporters.

At two o’clock the SEA racists emerged from the nearby pub where they had been assembling – about 25 of them altogether with an assortment of flags.

At the same time hundreds of young anarchist anti-fascist activists suddenly emerged to try to block their path.

Even greater numbers of police were deployed to try to force a way through the young anti-fascists, which they did slowly and with several arrests. As they were moved away, the young activists were moving in every direction and thwarted all police attempts to push them into the pen with the UAF anti-fascists.

Once the SEA people were in their pen with barriers and a police cordon around them, the young anti-fascists surrounded the whole enclave, many standing on a low wall that separated the SEA pen from the pavement.

All the anti-fascists were chanting slogans very loudly. Then the young anti-fascists deployed two large amplifiers next to the SEA pen and blasted the SEA with music so that it was impossible for the SEA to make their prepared speeches – or for their slogan shouting to be heard.

One of the tracks played by the anti-fascists was Stormzy’s hit track Shut up.

After about an hour, with many complaints from the SEA to the police, the police ordered the amplifiers to be turned off. But the slogan shouting from the young anti-fascists kept the volume high as the fascist speakers tried to make themselves heard.

Eventually the police marched the SEA racists away towards East Croydon Railway Station and there were a few more scuffles with young anti-fascists on the way.

After the fascists had gone the young anti-fascists held an impromptu meeting sitting on the steps outside East Croydon Station.

Paul Sillett, UAF national campaigner, said: “This protest is about rejecting the hate politics and poison from The South East Alliance; people who have a track record of fascism and Islamophobia.

“We say these people have no place in society, and refugees and asylum seekers should be welcome because the fascists are not.”