Police in Windsor have threatened to arrest republicans if they use their right of free speech against the monarchy.
According to Republic the Thames Valley Police stopped its supporters holding up a banner saying “Charles, what are you hiding?” as Britain’s hereditary head of state passed in company with the German President on a visit to Windsor.
The police told the protestors that they would be arrested if they heckled the so call “king” or held up their banner. They would only be allowed to raise the banner in a side street where it would not be seen by Mr Windsor.
The police were taken by surprise and were embarrassed by the public reaction when they stopped protests at the induction of Windsor as head of state.
This seemed to have modified their usual hostile actions against republicans and the suppression of their protests.
However their mass arrests of citizens in Britain (but not Northern Ireland) expressing support for Palestine Action showed that the lesson was short lived.
The threats made to republicans in Windsor confirmed this.