Oil industry protesters arrested at royal event charged
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Two oil and gas protesters have been charged after allegedly attempting to climb a crowd barrier at the King’s coronation celebration in Scotland.
Imogen Robertson, 22, and Hannah Torrance-Bright, 21, were arrested in connection with an alleged breach of the peace during the royal event in Edinburgh on Wednesday and later charged.
They have been released on an undertaking to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court next Tuesday.
The two were not part of anti-monarchy protests which took place at the time, but are members of This Is Rigged – a Scottish pressure group that hopes to curtail the oil and gas industry.
On Twitter, the group claimed the arrests were “infringing on our democratic right to protest”.
Police Scotland arrested four people in total and gave a further four warnings throughout Wednesday as people flocked to the Royal Mile for the national service of thanksgiving held for the King at St Giles’ Cathedral.
Police said William Duncan, 47, was arrested on suspicion of theft and Antonio Juncel, 43, who had an outstanding warrant against him, was also detained.
Three other men and one woman were arrested for alleged threatening behaviour and failing to desist when asked to do so, though their arrests were later changed to recorded police warnings.
Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs, police lead for the event, said: “This significant constitutional event took place safely without any disruption to the ceremony or people’s procession.
“Safety was our priority and a number of actions were taken to ensure this, which included an open approach to engaging with potential protest groups.
“Over the past few weeks, our protest liaison team have been speaking to protest groups, we set up an independent advisory group to help guide our approach and, in co-ordination with the event organiser and the local authority crowd safety manager, we worked hard to identify dedicated protest areas to maximise public safety, balanced against people’s rights to protest.
“I would like to thank the overwhelming majority of protesters who engaged with us and also our officers whose professionalism helped ensure the safe delivery of this event for everyone who attended.
“Decisions about how to police protests require us to balance complex and often competing rights and issues. We have a legal duty to protect the rights of people who wish to peacefully protest or counter-protest.
“Our priority is public safety and a policing plan was in place to maintain people’s safety, ensure the safe delivery of this event, enable peaceful protest and minimise disruption.”
