British anti-monarchy demonstrators have staged a protest on the banks of the Thames River in London amid what they describe as “the official news blackout on Jubilee protests.”
With the British Queen and her family in the lead barge of a 1000-boat flotilla on the Thames, marking her 60th year on the throne, republican demonstrators have gathered on the banks of the Thames to protest “the hereditary system” in Britain, which they consider as an offence to “all democratic values”.
Reports by the protesters posted on the Twitter profile of the anti-monarchy campaign Republic say “over a thousand protesters” are on Tooley Street which runs past Tower Bridge on the Southwark/Bermondsey side of the Thames.
“We were told the pageant wouldn’t cost taxpayers a penny. Now the bill is £3.5m, excluding security,” Republic posted on Twitter. Republic says the British monarchy is offensive to all “democratic values” and “the jubilee represents a celebration of everything we, as republicans, oppose. In the 21st century, the British people should have the right to elect their head of state. It should not be imposed upon us,” said British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.