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17th Sep 2022

Man tackled to the ground after running at Queen’s coffin

Charlie Herbert

Man tackled to the ground after running at Queen's coffin

The troubling incident happened overnight

A man has been arrested after charging at the Queen’s coffin during the vigil in London.

The disturbing incident happened on Friday night as thousands queued for hours to walk past Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin as it lies in state in Westminster Hall.

Footage shared online appears to show the moment the incident happened.

A man can be seen being quickly tackled to the ground by police after charging at Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin.

He is then carried away, and was arrested under the Public Order Act.

https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1570944694359654400

Met Police said: “At 10pm on Friday, September 16, officers from the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command detained a man in Westminster Hall following a disturbance. He was arrested for an offence under the Public Order Act and is currently in custody.”

The incident took place not long after the Queen’s children stood vigil by their mother’s coffin around 8pm.

Although crowd behaviour in the queue has been largely peaceful, this is not the first troubling incident to occur.

On Friday, a 17-year-old man appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court after allegedly sexually assaulting two women in the queue.

Tens of thousands have queued for hours on end so they can pay their respects to the late monarch – including former footballer David Beckham, who reportedly queued for more than 12 hours with the rest of the public.

Mourners have until 6:30am on Monday morning to view the coffin. Later that day, the Queen’s funeral will take place.

People are being advised to stop joining the queue after it reached capacity on Friday.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s queue tracker has warned of waiting times of at least 24 hours.

At the time of writing, the estimated waiting time is up to 16 hours.

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