British police were criticized by civil rights groups on Tuesday for their treatment of anti-monarchy protesters who were publicly decrying King Charles III’s accession to the throne. and have questioned the general support of the royal family.

Footage circulated on social media on Monday of a protester holding up a “Not My King” protest poster and then being confronted by at least four officers outside Britain’s Parliament in London.

She was seen being escorted from the site and was reportedly taken to an alternative location away from the gates of Parliament.

Lawyer and climate activist Paul Powlesland also wrote on Twitter that he was warned by an official that he risked arrest after holding up a blank sheet of paper to Parliament.

“He confirmed that if I wrote ‘Not My King’ on it he would arrest me under the Public Order Act because it might offend someone,” he wrote alongside video of him speaking to an officer.

Britain is in national mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, with the death of the 96-year-old monarch prompting a rare moment of national unity amid an outpouring of sympathy for the royals.

But it has also raised questions about the space for dissent, as several civil rights groups warn that police are not respecting the rights of the small minority of anti-monarchists.

“When people are arrested just for holding protest placards it is an affront to democracy and most likely unlawful,” Big Brother Watch said in a statement.

“Police officers have a duty to protect people’s right to protest, just as they have a duty to facilitate people’s right to show support, grief or respect.”

In another incident, a 45-year-old man was arrested in Oxford, southern England, on Sunday after shouting “Who voted for him?” during a public proclamation of Charles III’s accession to the throne.

Jodie Beck of the Liberty campaign group said the right to protest is “an essential part of a healthy and functioning democracy”.

“It is very worrying to see the police so persistently and punitively enforce their sweeping powers to restrict freedom of speech and expression,” she said in a statement.

London’s Metropolitan Police appeared to acknowledge the overzealous actions of some officers late Monday.

“The public has absolutely every right to protest,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said.

“We have made this clear to all officers involved in the extraordinary police action currently underway, and will continue to do so.”

The Queen’s coffin was put on public display for the first time in Edinburgh on Monday after a young man shouted at Prince Andrew, the Queen’s second son, as he marched behind the hearse.

The heckler, who called Andrew a “sick old man” in reference to his ties to American pedophile financier Jeffry Epstein, was shown being bundled away and escorted by police.

Bystanders responded by shouting “God save the King!” shouted.

Scottish Police confirmed that two people had been arrested and charged with public order offenses on Monday.

Another woman, who died at a proclamation ceremony for King Charles III on Sunday. Holding a sign in Edinburgh that read ‘Abolish royalty’ was also reportedly charged.

“Obviously this is a time of national mourning for the majority, the vast, vast majority of the country,” a spokesman for Prime Minister Liz Truss told reporters in London on Tuesday.

“But the fundamental right to protest remains a cornerstone of our democracy.”

The UK Public Order Act 1986 gives police the power to arrest anyone found guilty of causing “harassment, alarm or distress” by “threatening words or conduct or disorderly conduct”, including by holding up Describe.

The right-wing conservative government faced fierce criticism from civil rights groups earlier this year over a new police law that strengthened the powers of security forces to curb protests.

Anti-monarchists are a fringe group in Britain, with 13 per cent of respondents seeing the monarchy as “bad for Britain”, according to a poll by YouGov polling group in May this year.

A total of 54 percent saw it as “good” for the country.