Police admit that King’s protest arrest was illegal and pay compensation

A practical baptist minister arrested “Who chose it?” During a proclamation ceremony for the king, he described the experience as “strange” while establishing legal actions and was compensated by the police.

Thames Valley police said they accepted that the crime land for which Symon Hill was arrested in September 2022 “were illegal.”

The 47 -year -old man had been walking home from the church when he stopped and called during the ceremony in Carfax Tower in Oxford and was handcuffed and arrested.

The event, which took place three days after the death of the late queen, was one of the many ceremonies in cities and towns of the United Kingdom, where a proclamation of Charles adhesion to the throne was read aloud.

Hill, who now lives in Coventry, was later accused of using threatening or abusive words or a messy behavior that probably causes harassment, alarm or anguish, but the crown prosecution service confirmed in 2023 that this had been withdrawn because the case “did not meet our legal evidence for a prosecution.”

Having challenged his arrest with the help of the Liberty Human Rights Organization, Hill last month resolved a claim with the Thames Valley police and recently paid £ 2,500 in compensation.

Hill, who at that time was a teacher in adult education and since then has assumed the training to be a Baptist Minister, said that the last two and a half years had been “strangers.”

He told the AP news agency: “They bit me when I was arrested.”

He said that, although he had received hundreds of strangers’ support messages after his arrest, he had also been the subject of abusive comments and death threats.

In his initial arrest, he said: “I am concerned that the rights that have been fought for centuries are being threatened by the new draconian anti-protested laws, due to inexplicable police behavior, by labor and conservative governments that really do not defend civil freedoms and human dignity.”

Describing himself as “antimonarchy,” Mr. Hill said: “For me, my objection to the monarchy is rooted in my belief in the equal value of all human beings, it is connected to my Christian faith.

“It’s about wanting to treat other people as the same, and to treat me as an equal.

“It’s about not wanting to bow before another human being.”

In the days after the death of the deceased queen, a former anti -terrorism chief said that the police had been “too jealous” in their management of antimonquía protesters.

Nick Aldworth said that the late queen would not have wanted “interference with the legitimate protest” and described the actions of some officers “overprotectivity inappropriate towards the dignity of the event.”

Deputy Deputy Director Ben Snuggs said: “Thames Valley has established a claim with Mr. Hill and has accepted that the crime land for which he was arrested were illegal.

“Public order and public security operations are a key part of surveillance and it is important that we use these circumstances to help shape our future response.”

Katy Watts, Liberty’s lawyer, said: “A functional democracy is based on the ability to express different opinions and discuss them in public spaces. Symon’s illicit arrest shows how wide antiprote laws are closing people’s freedom of expression. “

She said Mr. Hill had been “unnecessarily channeled to the criminal justice system and the admission of illicit arrest by the Thames Valley Police shows that we can express an opinion in public spaces.”

He added: “As more criminal crimes are introduced based on protests, we need this government to take a step back and see the complex network of antiprote laws and how it is being used.

“We must urgently see a review of the broad anti-protector legislation to ensure that what happened to Symon cannot allow it to happen again.”

A spokesman from the Interior Ministry said: “The right to protest is essential for our democracy, and it is a long -standing tradition in this country that people are free to demonstrate their views, provided they do so within the law.”