Protest organisers at King Charles’ coronation have been arrested, and placards confiscated.

The protest was all legal and agreed with the police, but organisers were arrested on their arrival. It is the latest in a series of state over-reaches trying to stop awkward questions about the UK’s new, unelected head of state.

Protesters were previously arrested holding up a sign saying “abolish monarchy” and for shouting out about the new king: “who elected him?” This is an attack on everyone’s democratic rights.

The cost of the coronation has swelled up to £250 million – money that could have been spent on tackling the cost of living crisis we all face.

There are many big questions over King Charles’ conduct going back years, from his ‘spider memos’ attempting to improperly influence government policy to £2.5 million he accepted in actual bags of cash from a Qatari politician.

The attempts to shut down debate about the issue are a disgrace when you consider that the majority of 18-24 year olds believe we should abolish the monarchy. To the new generation, all this fawning and deference looks absurd. In the whole population, Charles’ popularity rating is just 54%.

It’s time to move on from the feudal age and abolish the monarchy.

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Highlighted comments

I didn’t have any strong feelings about the monarchy before, but if people are being arrested for peaceful protest against it, it needs to go – we are not living in the Middle Ages!

Ian, Suffolk

Why should one family have so much, simply because they’re born with luck, whilst the rest of us struggle to make ends meet one year to the next and have to look on longingly?

Jenny, Stafford

The monarchy is an expensive, unnecessary, and fundamentally unfair institution with no real purpose.

Julie, Hertfordshire

We are a democracy, outrageous behaviour arresting a protester!

Suki, Portsmouth

It is not right that we as the people do not have a say on who is our head of state and on the UK becoming a republic. The monarchy are unelected, outdated and we shouldn’t be stopped from protesting and making our feelings known on the issue. That is not democratic.

Amy, Thurrock

The royal family has been mired in scandal over the years, yet it is unaccountable and, apparently, above the law. I find this unacceptable and out of place in the 21st century.

Veronica, Bury

I think at a time of such hardship for so many people in the UK it’s absurd to have this undemocratic and outmoded institution still in existence. Abolish the monarchy!

Steven, Glasgow

Monarchy sits at the heart of and perpetuates our iniquitous class system. We’ll never be able to develop a fair society when power sits in the hands of people born into it – it’s an anachronism.

Karen, Suffolk