Wigan MP Lisa Nandy speaks out on arrests of anti-monarchy protesters at King's coronation
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Protesters gathered in London on Saturday as the coronation took place, but concerns were raised when some were arrested by police.
Ms Nandy told BBC Breakfast: “Clearly, something has gone wrong in this case.
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Hide Ad“Peaceful protest is an important part of British democracy. The Met accepted that and I think the Mayor of London is right to ask for a review to determine what exactly went wrong in this case.
“Whatever it was, this was a very complex policing operation. It largely went off without a hitch and I think the police deserve credit for that.
“But where there are incidents like this, we have to take them seriously and I think that it’s right that we learn the lessons and take steps to rectify that.”
On the use of powers under the controversial Public Order Act, she said: “It’s not clear in this case whether the problem is with the legislation, or whether the problem is more operational and a matter for the police.”
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Hide AdHealth minister Neil O’Brien said the police were “quite right” to apologise if the Met thought it made mistakes, but praised the overall coronation weekend operation.
He told BBC Breakfast: “I don’t want to second-guess every single decision they made. If they are apologising for some of the things that they’ve not got right, they’re quite right to do so.
“But, overall, I thought in a difficult situation, they managed a huge national event very, very well.”