Anti-monarchy protesters are reportedly preparing to throw rape alarms at horses in the procession for King Charles III’s Coronation next month. The disruption could lead to serious harm, it has been warned, if the protest causes horses to bolt into the thousands of people expected to line the Coronation route.
Just Stop Oil activists are expected to protest the event, referring to it on social media as the “final boss” for its campaign of disruption.
They recently caused headlines with a protest at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield last week by throwing orange powder onto one of the tables.
Anti-monarchy group Republic are also poised to cause havoc at the Coronation.
But it is not known which group is behind the claimed plan to use rape alarms during proceedings.
The claim that activists would use rape alarms to terrify the horses in the procession came from security sources speaking to the Mail.
The unpredictability of how horses will react has led to serious safety concerns among officials.
Police and other security officials have “planned to take a robust response with protesters who attempt to disrupt proceedings”, they said.
One said: “It’s not practical to frisk members of the crowd for rape alarms, but we will move swiftly if they try it.”
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Former Grenadier Guardsman Julian Perreira warned that the tactic could lead to the deaths of soldiers and spectators.
He explained that the weight of armour worn by the cavalrymen on the route could kill them if the horses suddenly bolted.
Meanwhile, if one or more of the large horses did leap into the crowd, it could lead to “dozens” of injuries and even deaths.
Charlie Lane, a horse expert and former commanding officer of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, said that if rape alarms went off “some horses will react more violently than others”.
He added: “I would be distinctly uncomfortable about it. There is a risk that individual riders are going to fall off, there is a risk horses are going to be injured.”
In June 2020, a terrified police horse careered down Whitehall after participants in a Black Lives Matter protest threw missiles at police.
Its rider PC Nicky Vernon slammed into a traffic light and suffered a collapsed lung, broken collarbone and shattered ribs.
Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley has vowed to clamp down on protesters who try to disrupt the event, saying in January: “We will do everything we can to make the Coronation the special moment it ought to be”.
