Nine women are taking action against the Metropolitan Police after being wrongfully arrested and mistreated by the force.
The women, aged between 20 and 64, were arrested at an Animal Rising training event during the King's coronation in 2023. Police claimed that the animal advocates planned to disrupt the coronation, even though they were miles away from the event.
Those attending the training wanted to learn about the principles of non-violent direct action. Louisa Hillwood, who was coordinating the training session that day, said:
“We had just started the session when the police stormed in and arrested all of us, saying they had ‘intelligence’ we were planning to disrupt the King’s coronation. They were wrong.”
They were arrested by 15-20 mainly male officers, handcuffed, taken to cells, subjected to full body searches and detained for 14 hours. They were then released late at night without their phones, which had been confiscated.
Louisa continued:
“We learned later that they had chosen to arrest us because we were in a building previously used by anti-monarchy protesters. We had been caught up in an attempt by the police to unlawfully and pre-emptively silence peaceful protest that day.”
Each of the women remained under investigation until the end of August 2023, when they were handed back their phones and told there was insufficient evidence for further action.
The Met says intelligence suggested the women were part of Just Stop Oil and planned to disrupt the coronation. The women are now crowdfunding a legal challenge to that claim.
Louisa explained:
“We are taking the police to court to hold them to account for our unlawful arrests and to protect our right to protest in the UK.
We need to raise £20,000 by 1st September to be able to progress with the case. Any amount you can donate, large or small, would be hugely appreciated. This is not just about me, it’s about protecting democracy and protecting people from police abuse of power in the future.”
Susie Labinjoh, head of civil liberties at law firm Hodge Jones & Allen, said:
“The vast majority of these women suffered a host of issues following the unlawful arrest, including panic attacks, depression, anxiety and paranoia.
Surprisingly, the Metropolitan Police has denied any wrongdoing, so legal action is the only recourse to justice for these innocent women.”
Please give what you can to help these women hold the Met to account.
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