Republican Activist Wins Police Settlement After Unlawful Arrest for Shouting at King Charles’ Proclamation

A republican campaigner has received a settlement from Thames Valley Police following an unlawful arrest protesting the monarchy in September 2022. 

Symon Hill, at the time campaigns lead at the Peace Pledge Union, was charged under the Public Order Act 1986 after shouting “who elected him?” when his path home was blocked by the Proclamation of King Charles in Oxford. 

Security officers at the event asked him not to express his opinion in a public space – and then soon after the police swooped in and arrested him under broad anti-protest laws. 

Civil rights groups Liberty provided legal support throughout the three year process to secure this settlement, which amounts to just £2,500. The settlement amount was significantly lower than the £15,000 originally sought by Liberty’s lawyers.

Thames Valley Police has now “grudgingly acknowledged” that Hill should not have been arrested, though they didn’t formally apologise, the peace activist told Byline Times.

During the arrest, Hill says he was given contradictory information about the legal grounds for his detention – first told it was under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, then later the Public Order Act 1986. It makes causing “harassment, alarm or distress” a criminal offence. 

“I asked the police officer with me under what law I’d been arrested. He said he didn’t know, and that the sergeant who had arrested me would know. Every police officer who’s considered an arrest should know the grounds for the arrest. 

“Anybody should be able to know at any point why they’ve been arrested. Otherwise, it’s an arbitrary arrest. If we’re going to have a rule of law, that means you have to have clear grounds for arrest,” Hill said.

Afterwards, Hill says he was also falsely accused by the force of assaulting a security guard, though police had footage showing this didn’t occur.

The Crown Prosecution Service dropped all charges two weeks after they were formally filed in December 2022.

Hill believes this case highlights wider systemic problems regarding policing, protest rights, and free expression in the UK.

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Speaking to Byline Times, the peace campaigner and university chaplain vented concerns that police officers aren’t properly trained on laws relating to protest and free speech.

Hill said the settlement was “better than a slap in the face with a wet fish.”

“Given that I’m on a part-time income at the moment, it does make a bit of difference in terms of day-to-day finances, but it’s not life-changing.”

He added: “I’m very aware that most people who are unlawfully arrested or otherwise mistreated by the police aren’t able to take legal action or even to get any media attention for what’s happened, and that’s one of the reasons that motivated me to do this, because I don’t think it’s just about me. It’s about everybody’s right to speak up and assert their rights.”

And he criticised the recent spate of anti-protest laws pushed through Parliament before the 2023 coronation, which were used to arrest other republican campaigners including Republic campaign leader Graham Smith.

Hill argues that the political left needs to “reclaim the free speech cause” from right-wing figures who he believes have co-opted it.

Despite some unexpected support from a handful of right-wing figures such as Piers Morgan following his arrest, Hill received limited backing from formal “free speech” organisations.

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Hill hopes his case might make police forces more cautious about arresting anti-monarchy protesters or people expressing opinions in future – though he’s not optimistic about immediate systemic change.

Republic CEO Graham Smith called for “a review of protest law” and “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,” Smith added.

But Hill told this newspaper: “I’m not naive or optimistic enough to imagine that there’ll be disciplinary action against the police who arrested me. The whole tone of Thames Valley Police’s communication with my lawyers throughout this has been extremely defensive. 

“It’s the end of the road in terms of this process over this arrest by this police force. But of course, it is one step in a wider struggle to defend free expression and the right to peaceful protest.”

And he added: “I don’t imagine that the police are suddenly going to change their behaviour because of this one case, but…If this makes Thames Valley Police or other police forces more cautious, if it makes them less likely to arrest anti-monarchy protesters, or to arrest anybody for expression of opinion, then I’ll be very pleased.”

As well as Liberty, Hill has received the backing of campaign group Republic. 

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He called for Labour “at the very least” to repeal the acts that the Conservatives have passed in the last few years to restrict protest further. 

“Bear in mind the coronation in 2023 – Graham Smith, the director of Republic, and [seven] of his colleagues, were arrested when they turned up to set up for a lawful demonstration early in the morning. 

“They were arrested under a law that had been in force for less than a week [the PCSC Act] because the Government had rushed [it] through Parliament to get it on the statute book before the coronation. The police had to come up with some bizarre justification for what was clearly just an attempt to arrest the organisers.”

The campaigner was formerly with the Peace Pledge Union, and living in Oxford at the time, but now works as a university chaplain while training for Baptist ministry in the West Midlands. 

Thames Valley Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Ben Snuggs said in a statement: “Thames Valley Police has settled a claim with Mr 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.”

Liberty welcomed the fact Thames Valley Police had “finally” admitted that his arrest was unlawful. “All along, the case has had huge implications for our ability to speak out in public spaces,” a spokesperson said. 

But Hill noted the problem was “not just the laws, it’s the police’s behaviour.”

“If the police can get away with arresting somebody and being very hazy about what the grounds were for the arrest, then that’s worrying, whatever the law is…

“Criticise the monarchy or the armed forces, and you find out who the real snowflakes are.”

Last week, human rights groups urged the Labour Government to repeal a raft of Conservative anti-protest laws, after the Court of Appeal upheld ten out of 16 lengthy prison sentences for peaceful Just Stop Oil protesters. 

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