Westminster Hall incident: Man arrested in Queen’s coffin

Event at Westminster Hall
Man arrested in queen’s coffin

09/17/2022, 02:10 am

Countless people wait for hours to say goodbye to the late Queen. Suddenly someone walks out of the waiting queue and runs towards the queen’s coffin. According to eyewitnesses, the police arrested the man within seconds.

Incident in Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin: A man was arrested on Friday evening who, according to eyewitnesses, ran towards the coffin at Westminster Hall of the British Parliament in London. According to media reports, the Metropolitan Police said that the man was arrested after the disturbance. An eyewitness told Sky News that someone drove his seven-year-old niece out of the way, ran to the coffin and tried to lift the royal standard lying on top of the coffin. Police confiscated him “within two seconds”.

Live TV broadcasts were suspended at that time and a scene outside Parliament was shown instead. The Guardian, citing witnesses, reported that the man jumped off the queue, managed to climb the stairs and touched the coffin. According to British news agency PA, the Metropolitan Police said the man was arrested for violating the Public Order Act and is currently in custody. Sky News quoted a parliament speaker as saying that a waiter from the line had headed towards the scaffolding called the Catafalk.

People in Great Britain have another opportunity to say goodbye to their monarch with a visit to the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II this weekend. The coffin will remain in Westminster Hall until Monday morning before the funeral for the 70-year-old Queen. Since Wednesday countless people have taken the opportunity to stop at the coffin of Elizabeth II. For this, they have to queue for hours in a one kilometer long queue on the banks of the Thames.

Elizabeth II died on Thursday 8 September at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle, a Scottish country estate. His coffin was brought to the Scottish capital Edinburgh on Sunday and then to London on Tuesday evening. Hundreds of monarchs, heads of state and government from around the world are expected to arrive in London for a state funeral this Monday.