He put his hands on the coffin before being arrested. This scene, which shocked many Britons, took place Friday evening, around 10 p.m., at the Palace of Westminster where thousands of people had gathered to pay homage to the queen, whose body rests in her coffin.
A man managed to break through the security barrier, climb the four steps leading to the coffin and touch it, according to the Guardian. He was quickly arrested by security guards.
In a press release, Scotland Yard explained that the man was “arrested for breach of the Public Order Act and taken into police custody. »
“It is absolutely terrible, so disrespectful and unimaginable”
“The police caught him within seconds,” a witness told Sky News. “It’s absolutely terrible, so disrespectful and unimaginable”, adds this woman who was with her “poor seven-year-old grandniece” who will keep this “last memory of the queen”.
Great moment Friday evening, “the vigil of the princes”: the four children of Elizabeth II – Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward – came for 15 minutes to watch over their mother’s coffin, as they had already done in Edinburgh.
The image of the four children in military uniform, their backs to the coffin, praying with their heads bowed as the public continued to march made the front page of many British newspapers this Saturday.
VIDEO. In London, 7 km and an all-nighter before seeing the Queen’s coffin
For the occasion, Andrew, deprived of most of his titles following accusations of sexual assault, was authorized to wear the uniform. The eight grandchildren of the queen must also come to collect this Saturday evening.