Police foil activists’ plot to let off rape alarms during coronation procession
COPS prevented “carnage” by smashing a plot to let off rape alarms during the Coronation procession, a police chief has said.
Activists claimed a man and two women arrested with the devices in Soho at 2am on Saturday were innocent volunteers of a women’s safety group.
However, one is said to have links to Extinction Rebellion and police insist they had received intelligence about a plan to disrupt the procession.
Ken Marsh, chairman of the rank and file Police Federation, said: “It would have been carnage.
“There were serious concerns from the military that if those alarms had gone off while the horses were going past, they would have stampeded.
“You would have had 50 horses out of control. We could have been dealing with a catastrophe.”
Two women, 37 and 59, and a man, 47, suspected of planning to let off rape alarms were held for 14 hours before being bailed.
The Met Police confirmed that 52 people were arrested for affray, public order offences, breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
Graham Smith, head of anti-monarchy group Republic, was arrested and spent nearly 16 hours in custody.
He branded his detention a “direct attack on our democracy”.