Slogans for real democracy, Welsh independence and ending poverty were raised by over 500 protesters in Cardiff on Saturday.
Bethan Sayed hits out at MET police arrest of republican protesters in London: “We have a message for the police. We will not be intimidated, we will continue to protest.”
Anger over the cost of the coronation was on display, with a majority of the public believing billionaire Charles should have paid for the ceremony himself.
By Ka Long Tung. All images by Ka Long Tung
Anti-monarchy demonstrators gathered in the Welsh capital on Saturday demanding “down with the monarchy,” as the second protest of its kind in just eight months, and the first since Charles III visited Cardiff last September.
Organisers claimed 600 had attended the weekend’s event.
The ‘Not My King’ protest, organised by the newly formed Cymru Republic, composed speeches at Aneurin Bevan Status, a march along Queen Street, and a “Republican Lunch” in Bute Park.
“I think what they [the monarchy] symbolise today is very much inequality,” said Adam Johannes, one of the protest organisers. “We don’t elect our head of state and this is accustoms us to the idea that we don’t elect our bosses, we don’t elect the heads of corporations and many undemocratic forces in our lives.”
Adam Johannes, photo by Ka Long Tung
“It’s very important to remember this isn’t a quirky or quaint British tradition, we actually originally had a monarchy because we were all serfs with no human rights,” Johannes told voice.wales.
He said that those gathered were not only calling for a republic but raising the slogan “real democracy now.”
“Because we see getting rid of the monarchy as part of a process of a much more profound democratisation of our society.”
Bethan Sayed, one of the founding members of Cymru Republic, who represented Plaid Cymru as a Member of The Senedd from 2007 to 2021, said: “A republic Wales means to me that we have at our core a democratic nation that doesn’t have a family that’s born into privilege ruling over us where we’re not subjects.”
“I was a politician for 15 years. And for me to be able to be a politician, I had to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen at the time – that’s not something I wanted to do,” she said.
Bethan Sayed, photo by Ka Long Tung
Anti-monarchy protests were held not only in Wales but also in Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland, and London in England, where the coronation itself took place.
In London, two hours before Charles was due to arrive at Westminster Abbey, Graham Smith, the chief executive of Republic, was arrested by MET police who also confiscated the group’s placards.
The arrest came after a new law, given royal assent by Charles last Tuesday, gave new powers to the police to “head off disruption by stopping and searching protesters if they suspect they are setting out to cause chaos.”
The Metropolitan police said they had made a total of 52 arrests on the coronation day. Police officers were also positioned in Cardiff during the protest but no arrest was made.
Addressing the crowd, Sayed condemned the London arrests as an act of political intimidation.
“He [Smith] is there to organise a peaceful demonstration and I condemn the MET police for treating protesters in such a way,” she said to whoops and cheers. “Trying to intimidate people not to attend today’s events here in Cardiff, in London and in Edinburgh. We have a message for the police. We will not be intimidated, we will continue to protest.”
The coronation also took place amidst the cost of living crisis, with the price of food seeing the sharpest increase in 45 years, rent being hiked by as much as £200 a month and energy prices soaring.
The question of poverty and class inequality was at the heart of the protest, with one banner at the front declaring “God save the poor” with the word “King” crossed out.
The coronation for the 74-year-old was expected to cost £50 to £100 million. Polls showed that 51% of adults in the UK believed it shouldn’t be funded by the government.
Among them, younger people were against the idea of using taxpayers’ money to fund the ceremony, with 62% of those aged 18 to 24 not in favour of a publicly-funded coronation.
One of these protesters was Philip Davies, 28, from Cwmbran. “Especially today as well,” he pointed out. “Middle of the cost of living crisis to be spending £150 million of public money on a ceremony for a billionaire who could pay for it themselves. I think that’s also increasing the reason why people are angry with the monarchy at the moment.”
Phillip Davies, photo by Ka Long Tung
But Davies had also come out to support Welsh independence, like many who had gathered under the Nye Bevan statue.
“It (Welsh independence) means freedom to decide for ourselves what we want to do with the natural resources,” he said.
“The Crown Estate still owns a lot of land in Wales. (It) still controls the seabed as well, which means they extract the profits from our wind farms, for example.”
“An independent republic of Wales would be that we use our natural resources ourselves to benefit the people of Wales, and to change our tax system so that nobody’s struggling, which is a big problem.”
Gwenno Dafydd, a supporter of Welsh independence who was holding the microphone, arranging speakers and leading chants, said that she was “passionately against the English royal family”.
“We in Wales are struggling really big time, so many people have difficulty in making ends meet. We have a crisis that has put austerity into the shade,” she said. “We thought that things were grim five, six years ago. They’re even worse now.”
“Let’s face it: he [Charles] has been unemployed for 71 years and he should put his hand in his own pocket and pay for that out of his own coffers. Do not expect people who do not respect him, who do not have anything to do with him to do that,” Dafydd said.
Gwenno Dafydd, photo by Ka Long Tung
Following a rally that started off in the rain, protesters marched through the city centre and gathered for a picnic in Bute Park, by which time the weather had cleared.
Speaking to voice.wales during the “Republican Lunch”, Osian Griffod, 34, from Ynys Môn, said a republic of Wales was also about the preservation of Welsh culture and language.
“Once you tune into the language, you’ve got your own history to read,” he said.
Dafydd also shared the view that things have to be changed to protect communities and heritage. She said that property had become so expensive in the coastal village in Pembrokeshire where she grew up that many people couldn’t buy homes.
“They’ll be shells, absolute shells of communities, where the Welsh language used to be vibrant, where there were shops, where there were communities. There’ll be nothing,” she said.
Ahead of the protest, an ITV/Savanta poll showed that 56% of people in Wales still support the monarchy, which by historical standards represents a large drop in enthusiasm for the royals.
This mood was reflected in Caldicot, a town in south-east Wales, which had to cancel its coronation party as organisers failed to raise money to cover costs.
A report by Open Democracy also showed that Cardiff Council had allocated 45,000 for the coronation, despite cutting services and seeing only a small crowd turn up to watch the event on the big screen inside Cardiff castle.
One placard summed up the different array of issues being fought over. It simply read: “No King, No Cops, No Landlords.”
Although being glad about the turnout of the protest, Sayed remarked that there were people with different demands, some would want a UK Republic, whilst others would demand a Welsh Republic like herself.
Dafydd said the movement was still in a very early stage but she hoped to see a referendum regarding independence in five years’ time.
Griffod believed the journey would be long but it’s important to continue doing it. “I guess it’s the journey more than the destination and the goal. The journey is lots of people turning into this, brings its own optimism, brings its own culture,” he said.
“Just being here today, you’re voicing an opinion. We live in a democracy, or at least you’d like to think we live in a democracy. So I think it’s important that we can voice that opinion like today.”
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Photo reel by Ka Long Tung. – scroll for images
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