Police have been forced to apologise after a royal enthusiast was arrested and held for 13 hours, for the measly crime of being in the vicinity of Just Stop Oil protestors. Alice Chambers, an Australian architect based in the UK, had come out to celebrate the King’s coronation and drink in the atmosphere, but soon found herself surrounded by police officers, who were acting on ‘intelligence’ about suspected disruption. As she was standing on the periphery of a suspected group of protestors, Chambers got caught up in the sting and was handcuffed and led away, eventually arriving at a police station after two hours in the back of a van.

Speaking to Sky News, Chambers said:

“There was a big commotion as several police officers swooped in and started arresting Just Stop Oil protesters before they could begin protesting.

“Before I could get up, two police officers came over and grabbed me, before taking me away in handcuffs.

“When I was arrested I repeatedly tried to explain to the police I had no affiliation with the protesters. I provided my personal details, but was still detained for 13 hours.”

Chambers eventually found herself in a police station interrogation room, where officers quickly discovered their error, and reportedly apologised in person. For her part, Chambers has called for an investigation into police behaviour on the day of the coronation, giving her even more in common with the protestors than ever. Critics are quick to link such blunders with the new policing powers that cops up and down the country have been given, which allow them to shut down protests before they’ve even begun, and leave much of the law at the discretion of individual officers.

If only the police had followed standard operating guidelines and hit Chambers with the classic: “‘Ello ello ello, what’s going on here then?”, she could have said “nothing” and none of this would have happened.