Royal family hijacked VE Day anniversary, says republican protest organiser

The head of a republican movement has claimed the royal family “hijacked” VE Day anniversary celebrations as protesters campaigned in central London.

Transcript

00:00Towns and cities around the country, but mostly, yeah, social media, website, you know, that's where we are.

00:07Republic's goal is to abolish the monarchy in the next few decades, according to their chief executive, Graham Smith.

00:18A survey conducted by the National Centre for Social Research in autumn of 2023 showed that just over half of people in Britain

00:27believe that it is very or quite important for Britain to have a monarchy.

00:33This is contrary to Mr Smith's comments, but it is also worth noting how support for the monarchy has been in decline over the last 10 years,

00:46with a significant generational divide and younger people less in favour of a king or queen.

00:54As recently as 2012, around three quarters of the UK population still said having the monarchy was very or quite important.

01:04There was a temporary reversal of this decline after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September of 2022,

01:15shortly after which 62% felt that having a monarchy was important.

01:20However, as many as a quarter now say either that the monarchy should be abolished or that it is not at all important.

01:31The idea is that the media often present those crowds to turn out for them as representative of the national sentiment,

01:38and they aren't.

01:39So we want to make sure that we've just got that image and say, well, actually, there's a growing campaign against them.

01:45Graham Smith told the crowd at the protest that the monarchy was a corrupt, disreputable and grubby institution

01:55and called for a parliamentary republic.

01:59Mr Smith and other republic members were arrested for taking part in a pre-agreed protest

02:06on the king's coronation on May 6th, 2023, and were later told no action would be taken.

02:13The demonstration in Trafalgar Square came after Charles and the royal family attended a busy week of public engagements,

02:25marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day.