News / Royal family
‘You can shove the coronation up your arse’
While big screens showed a livestream of the coronation inside Bristol Cathedral, a group of protesters outside were less enthusiastic about the day’s pomp and pageantry.
The demonstrators’ banners included ‘off with their heads’, ‘down with the crown’ and ‘pay nurses not royals’.
Some of the protesters were wearing t-shirts with the slogan ‘abolish the monarchy’ made by Republic, some of whose members got arrested while unloading banners from a van in central London on the morning of the coronation.
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The chanting on College Green could not be heard inside the cathedral, where the mood was much more deferential.
Bishop Viv led prayers between the ceremony and the start of the procession, with members of the congregation also standing up for the hymns to mirror the congregation on the screens beamed from Westminster Abbey.
The coronation was shown on three screens at Bristol Cathedral – photo: Martin Booth
But as they left, royalists were greeted by republicans.
“You can shove the coronation up your arse,” protesters chanted, before deciding what pub to visit in order to raise a glass or two not to our new king, but to the day when there will be no king at all.
Main photo & video: Martin Booth
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