Royal wedding activists lose appeal

UK judges say they are satisfied that the arrests and detentions of protesters at Prince William's 2011 wedding were lawful.

Royal wedding protesters have lost the latest round in their legal action over how the Metropolitan Police conducted operations when Prince William married Kate Middleton.

When a case brought by 20 individuals, who claimed they were the victims of unlawful searches and arrests, went to London's High Court in 2012, the Met were accused of effectively "suppressing anti-monarchist sentiment" at the time of the April 2011 event.

But Lord Justice Richards and Justice Openshaw ruled that the police, who argued that their action was justified and proportionate, had acted within their powers and were not guilty of operating an unlawful policy.

The 20 were among scores arrested or subjected to searches before or on the wedding day.

One group involved 15 protesters arrested at various locations in London, including at a Starbucks in Oxford Street, Charing Cross and those attending the Queer Resistance zombie picnic in Soho Square.

Their lawyers said the case touched on "the most important of constitutional rights, namely the right to free expression and to protest, both of which are elemental to a properly functioning democracy".

The 2012 finding by the two judges is no longer the subject of challenge but an appeal was brought on behalf of four people on whether the deprivation of their liberty contravened Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

On Wednesday, Lord Justice Maurice Kay, Lord Justice Leveson and Lord Justice Aikens in the Court of Appeal said they were satisfied that the arrests and detentions were lawful.


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Source: AAP



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