A Republican who was arrested and de-arrested after shouting ‘who elected him’ at the proclamation of Charles III as the new king has slammed the Queen's State funeral.
Symon Hill, from Oxford, tweeted: "Elizabeth Windsor's family, friends and admirers want to mourn her and grieve for her. I really respect that. This doesn't mean they should expect taxpayers to pay for her funeral.
"This is an insult to the many people who struggle to afford to pay for their loved ones' funerals."
Mr Hill, 45, told the Oxford Mail that at the ceremony he had been pushed by three security guards before being ‘dragged off’ to a police van and his hands cuffed behind his back.
He had not been planning to protest at the event, he said, he was leaving a service at New Road Baptist Church in Bonn Square when he got caught up in crowds.
But as the High Sheriff read the proclamation, Mr Hill said he had said words to the effect of: “Who elected him?” and was told to shut up by people in the crowd.
He said there was confusion about the law under which he had been arrested.
However, a Thames Valley Police spokeswoman said that a 45-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of committing an offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, which prohibits ‘disorderly behaviour’.
“He has subsequently been de-arrested and is engaging with us voluntarily as we investigate a public order offence,” she added.
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