Key Points
- Alice Chambers was among the crowds who took to the streets for King Charles III's coronation procession.
- She was arrested and detained by police for 13 hours.
- Ms Chambers told the BBC she kept thinking someone would realise it had all been a "misunderstanding".
Catching a glimpse of the new king on his way into his coronation will be a memory retold throughout the lives of those who were there on the day.
Australian woman Alice Chambers, who joined the onlookers on the streets of London for King Charles' coronation on the weekend, will have a slightly different story to tell.
According to a thread on Twitter, which went viral within hours of being tweeted, Ms Chambers is a royalist who just wanted to enjoy the special occasion as part of the crowd in the Central Mall.
However, she ended up being arrested and detained for hours.
The thread by UK-based journalist Steve Robson said 36-year-old Ms Chambers "brought a little stool and her camera and thought she’d found a good spot to catch a glimpse of the new King.”
He said that, while he was chatting to others in the crowd at around 9am, police suddenly “swooped in and before she knew it, Alice was being arrested and put in handcuffs.”
It’s understood that, while Ms Chambers may not have known it at the time, she was standing near a group of protesters.
Robson claimed in his tweet that Ms Chambers believed she was arrested for potential to breach the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
Just Stop Oil is a group demanding the UK government immediately halt all new oil and gas project approvals and licences.
Ms Chambers has since told the BBC, "I kept trying to explain that I wasn't part of this group. Up until they started protesting, I didn't even know what they were protesting about."
"I always tried to think that surely there was going to be someone soon that I can talk to that will just understand that this is all a misunderstanding and that just didn't come, you know. I was detained for 13 hours," she told the BBC.
It is understood Ms Chambers has filed a complaint about her treatment.
In a tweet the Metropolitan Police said "We understand concern arrests made over the weekend caused. We are committed to sharing all of the information we can about our tactics."
