Coronation aftermath compared to Glastonbury as royal fans leave trail of tents, chairs and litter

The scene in central London after piles of discarded tents, camping chairs, rubbish and muddy union jack bunting were left behind by royal fans on coronation day has been compared to the aftermath of the Glastonbury Festival.

Tens of thousands of people battled the rain to descend on the city to celebrate the King’s coronation on Saturday, with some royalists having travelled thousands of miles from Australia.

Water bottles, beer cans, soft-drink containers and sleeping bags covered the streets around Buckingham Palace after throngs of royal fans draped in flags and rainwear celebrated Britain’s first coronation in seven decades.

Chris Ship, the royal editor for ITV News, tweeted: “Now The Mall resembles abandoned campsite after a wet weekend at Glastonbury”.

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Many revellers had travelled to the area days before the coronation and slept in tents outside the palace, desperate to get a good spot to enjoy the celebrations as King Charles III become the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned at Westminster Abbey.

The procession route, which stretched along The Mall and Whitehall, was lined with thousands of fans eager to see King Charles and Queen Camilla pass by in the gold state coach.

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Figures revealed that the ceremony was watched by an average of 18 million viewers in the UK. Audience tracker Barb said the number hit a peak of 20.4 million as the King was crowned shortly after midday.

The Metropolitan Police faced criticism for their heavy-handed response to protesters on Saturday, after dozens of demonstrators from anti-monarchy and environmental organisations were arrested in what was condemned as a “dystopian nightmare” and a “totalitarian crackdown”.

The force was also criticised by Labour MPs for arresting women’s safety volunteers in central London during the early hours of coronation day.

Campaigners told The Independent that people working for Westminster Council’s Night Stars safety team had been detained in custody for 15 hours.

At around 2am on Saturday, three people were stopped by officers and arrested in Soho on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance, according to the Met. The force also confirmed that rape alarms were among the items they had seized.

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Kate Osborne, a Labour MP who sits on the women and equalities committee, told The Independent it was “an absolute disgrace” that Metropolitan Police officers had arrested people “for doing the voluntary work they do every week, handing out rape alarms to women”.

She added: “The nonsense excuses from the Met Police that they were acting on a potential risk and policing proportionately must be challenged.”

Ms Osborne warned that women’s trust in the force had greatly deteriorated. “These actions, alongside the other arrests of protesters at the weekend, are grotesque attacks on the right to protest and civil liberties,” she said.

Culture secretary Lucy Frazer said that the police had got the “balance right” between allowing protest and protecting people’s enjoyment of the King’s coronation.

Metropolitan Police commander Karen Findlay acknowledged the concerns about Saturday’s arrests, but defended the force’s approach to policing the protests, saying: “Our duty is to do so in a proportionate manner in line with relevant legislation.”