Republicans at York demo planning ‘light-hearted’ protest at King’s coronation
A group of around 30 people chanted ‘not my King’ as Charles and Camilla arrived at York Minster.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Republican protesters demonstrating outside the Royal Maundy service said they are expecting more than a thousand people to protest at the coronation but promised they will keep it “fairly light-hearted”.
A group of around 30 people chanted “not my King” and held up placards as Charles and Camilla arrived at York Minster on Thursday.
But they were outnumbered by the thousands who turned out to welcome the King and Queen Consort to the city and also outnumbered by the scores of police who were stationed on the streets for the visit.
Graham Smith, CEO of the group Republic, said the protest will be bigger at the coronation, promising to make themselves “unmissable” during the day.
Mr Smith said: “We’re thinking it’s going to be over a thousand people at the coronation itself.
“We’re not quite sure what we’re going to do but we may have other groups along the route.
“But, certainly, there will be one large protest in the middle, on the procession route.
“And it will be a lot of this really, lots of ‘not my King’ placards – we’ll be making some noise. There’ll be a bit of a party atmosphere, trying to engage the people around us and keep it fairly light-hearted.
“And we’ll make sure that when the procession goes past we are unmissable.”
Mr Smith said: “We’ll be protesting at the coronation and beyond just to really challenge the idea of a succession of head of state and to say we want an election instead of a coronation – a choice instead of chance.”
He said he and his fellow protesters got a “mixed reaction” in York, admitting that the majority of those gathered outside the minster did not agree with them.
“Some of them get annoyed but it’s a free country and we can all stand here and demonstrate our support or our opposition,” he said.