A PEACE campaigner who was arrested for expressing republican views has warned that meaningful debate over the future of the monarchy is being silenced. 

Peace Pledge Union campaigner Symon Hill was handcuffed and dragged into a police van by officers after shouting “who elected him?” at the proclamation of King Charles III in Oxford just over a week ago. 

His arrest was one of several police actions against anti-monarchy protests following the Queen’s death. 

Others include the arrest of a woman for holding up an “abolish the monarchy” sign in Edinburgh, and a barrister who was threatened with arrest if he wrote “not my king” on a blank placard. 

Public outrage at the arrests prompted the National Police Chiefs Council to issue a statement reminding officers of people’s right to protest against the monarchy. 

Speaking to the Morning Star a week after his arrest, Mr Hill said it was alarming that officers had to be instructed to respect the right to protest “rather [than] it being something that should be basic to the way they operate anyway.

“That senior police officers can say this without any shame or embarrassment about the fact that they need to [instruct officers to respect the right to protest] is pretty disturbing,” he said. 

Besides the police incidents, Mr Hill said that republican views have also been sidelined by the press. 

“Even if only a minority of the population want an end to the monarchy, it’s not a tiny fringe, it’s a significant minority, and most of the media are either deliberately [ignoring] or running scared from covering meaningful debates on the future of the monarchy,” he said. “So we have a new head of state declared and we can’t discuss whether that’s OK.”

Mr Hill also expressed concern at the emphasis given to the importance of the Queen’s funeral in contrast to the problems faced by ordinary people.

Illustrating this, he highlighted the story of a woman who messaged him to say she was struggling to feed her family after paying for the funeral of her father.

“It’s one thing to respect people’s right to mourn and to grieve: it’s another thing to expect taxpayers to pay for the funeral of a very wealthy family … at a time when a lot of people are struggling to pay the cost of the funerals for their own loved ones,” he said.

Mr Hill added that the promotion of the monarchy “sets the tone for how our society is run — the idea that one person bows down to another and calls them ‘your majesty’ entrenches and upholds and celebrates inequality.”

Following his widely publicised arrest, Mr Hill said he received abusive messages on social media, including that he should be hanged for treason.

But he said he has also been swept away by the level of supportive messages from fellow republicans and people supporting his right to freedom of expression. 

He has yet to be charged but has been invited by Thames Valley Police to attend a voluntary interview.