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Anish,10 years old boy achieved 40 world records

Shasi Kumar
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Anish,10 years old boy achieved 40 world records

Anish,10 years old boy achieved 40 world records

Diplomat Times (Chennai)- Anish is a record-breaking record-breaker: He has set more records than anyone else in the world! In the last 3 years, he has established more than 40 records.

S Anish. Age.10 Place of Birth. Kaveripattinam, Krishnagiri District Currently residing in Velachery, Chennai Guinness World Record holder Bharat Ratan from Velachery, Chennai Youngest Scientist.

S. Anish, An excellent student and social worker.
He is studying the fifth standard at DAV Baba Vidyalaya School, m, Velachery, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600042, India
He holds over 40 World Records and Guinness World Records (2). The first Guinness World Record is for running a 10km sprint, and the second Guinness World Record (3*3) is for completing all sections of a Rubik’s Cube in the shortest number of seconds… In recognition of his achievements, the Department of Posts of India Post honored him by issuing a My Stamp.

He was honored with the Bharat Ratan Award by the Face of Group in New Delhi.

Anish
Anish with his achievements.

As a child, Anish loved reading the Guinness Book of World Records. He wanted to be in it too. But he thought people had to be good at sports to be in the book. He wasn’t a good athlete. He felt his dream would never come true.

But later in life, Anish learned meditation, and with this, he learned that nothing is impossible. He tested this idea in September 2021 by entering is for running a 10km sprint. Without any training, Anish won. After that, he started thinking about making more records again and won second Guinness World Records in October 2022.

Today, Anish has a long list of records, including: honored with the Hero of the Society Award, the South Indian Academy of Culture honored her with the Semmel Award for Outstanding Social Service in recognition of her social services such as Beach Cleanup, Food Distribution, Tree Planting, Resilience Awareness, and Whole Body Donation Awareness.

Award for Outstanding Social Service (10) Various foundations and organizations honored him with certificates. He received the Rising youth super star award in New Delhi. Nakshatra Tamilan Award-2022 People’s Social Welfare Association in Puducherry appreciated his achievements and honored him with the best student achievement award.

READ MORE : America International University Chancellor Dr Park Met with Guinea Ambassador in Malaysia, discussed about education

Ovialaya The Foundation recognized his talents and honored him with the Young Achiever’s Award-2022 at the Ovialaya Mupperum Festival in honor of his achievements. His achievements are not going to stop here. His ideal is to create more achievements and create history for the country of India.

The South Indian Academy of Culture honored him with the Semmel Award for Outstanding Community Service. Naveen Arts Foundation honored Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam Award in recognition of his social service and film music composer Mr Shankar Ganesh Iya. India Best Student Award (ABJ Foundation). Honored by Pride of Tamil Nadu (All India Book of Records). Presented by Young Achievers Award -2021 (Jetlee Book of Records). Best Social activist awards (WAC Book of Records) were given in appreciation of social service.

Nakshatra Tamilan Award-2022 was awarded by the People’s Social Welfare Association in Puducherry based on the best student and achievements.

It is also noteworthy that Rising youth superstars of India-2022 were awarded in Delhi. (3*3)Rubik’s Cube to solve all the areas in the least seconds won the Guinness World Record certificate and medal.

It is noteworthy that the event was conducted online by the Tamil Nadu Cube Association.

Diplomat Times wishes him best future.

By Shasi Kumar from for Diplomat times |

Plastic-eating microbes from one of the coldest regions on Earth could be the key to the planet’s waste problem

Marietta Reformado
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Plastic-eating microbes from one of the coldest regions on Earth could be the key to the planet’s waste problem

Plastic-eating microbes from one of the coldest regions on Earth could be the key to the planet’s waste problem

DT(SDG)- The planet gets covered in an estimated 400 million tonnes of plastic waste every year that won’t break down over time. But this week, scientists said they may have found a way to help, thanks to tiny organisms in one of the coldest regions of Earth.

Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL recently discovered microbes in the Arctic and from the Alps that could be the key to eliminating some forms of plastic waste. The microbes, they found, will eat up certain types of plastic left in their environment, a discovery that could help pave the way to reduce much of the plastic waste found around the planet.

Using microorganisms to eat up plastic is not a new concept, but industries have relied on microbes that require temperatures of at least 86 degrees Fahrenheit to conduct their feasting. This requirement makes the recycling process more energy- and financial-intensive.

But the newly-uncovered microbes were found to break down plastics at temperatures as low as 59 degrees Fahrenheit, which if expanded to industry, could in theory make the process more efficient.

This discovery was made after researchers buried pieces of plastic in Greenland and Alps soil. In the months that followed, they observed bacteria and fungi growing on the plastic. A year after planting the plastic pieces, they took the microbes that were found on it and conducted more tests in controlled settings in a lab to determine just how many types of plastic they could consume.

Of the 34 cold-adapted microbes they studied, they found 19 of the strains secreted enzymes that could break down some plastics. However, the only plastic that could be broken down were those that were biodegradable – none of the microbes could break down more traditional plastics, made of plastic polyethylene.

Their findings were published in Frontiers in Microbiology on Wednesday, just a few months after the team published complementary research that found polyethylene plastics, often used in trash bags, do not break down over time, and that even biodegradable plastics used in compost bags take an exceptionally long time to decompose.

And while the discovery could be a key to paving the way for a better future of plastics recycling, scientists say there is still a lot of work that must be done.

“The next big challenge will be to identify the plastic-degrading enzymes produced by the microbes and to optimize the process to obtain large amounts of enzymes,” study co-author Beat Frey said. “In addition, further modification of the enzymes might be needed to optimize properties such as their stability.”

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the CBS. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

Top Pakistan court rules Imran Khan’s arrest unlawful, streets are quiet

Shasi Kumar
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Top Pakistan court rules Imran Khan’s arrest unlawful, streets are quiet

Top Pakistan court rules Imran Khan’s arrest unlawful, streets are quiet

 

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest was unlawful, two days after his detention on graft allegations triggered deadly violence, escalating his tussle with the powerful military.

The protests coincide with Pakistan’s worst economic crisis in decades, with record high inflation, anaemic growth and IMF funding delayed for months, prompting concerns that the country could default on its external payment obligations.

“The manner of execution of the arrest warrant issued by the

Chairman, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) … is invalid and unlawful,” the Supreme Court said in its order.

The reprieve for Khan, 70, comes as a setback for the military, which has ruled the South Asian nation for almost half its history through three coups, a day after it said the violence by Khan’s supporters who rampaged through army installations was “pre-planned” and ordered by his party leadership.

Khan, a cricket star-turned-politician who opponents say was brought to power through a rigged election in 2018 by the generals, has blamed the military for his ouster from office in April 2022.

He has also alleged that an attempt on his life in November was plotted by a top army general at the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The army has denied allegations of bringing him to power, his ouster and of the assassination attempt.

Khan’s lawyer, Babar Awan, said the Supreme Court had ruled that Khan was now under its custody and not under that of the NAB. The court said Khan would spend the night in the same police guest house as before in order to ensure his safety.

He will appear before Islamabad High Court at 11 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Friday.

‘WE WILL ARREST HIM AGAIN’

It was not immediately clear when he would be allowed to go home.

Undeterred by his ouster and the assassination attempt, Khan has led countrywide protest campaigns to pressure the government to call early elections scheduled for later this year.

The graft case is one of more than 100 registered against him in which, if convicted, he could face a ban from holding public office.

“We will arrest him again,” said Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah.

READ MORE : Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan arrested in Islamabad

Khan, who was accused in the graft case of land fraud worth up to seven billion rupees ($24.70 million), denies any wrongdoing.

After Khan’s arrest, hundreds of protesters blocked highways, main entry and exit routes to all major cities, attacking and burning state buildings, police and public vehicles and rampaged through army installations.

Nearly 2,000 people were arrested and at least eight killed, prompting the government to call out the army to help restore order. Khan told the court that he was manhandled at the time of his arrest and hit with a stick, according to local ARY TV.

The streets were mostly quiet on Thursday except for sporadic protests.

On Tuesday, Khan was picked up by heavily armed paramilitary police from Islamabad High Court premises where he had arrived in a wheelchair, shoved into an armoured car and whisked away.

On Tuesday, Khan was picked up by heavily armed paramilitary police from Islamabad High Court premises where he had arrived in a wheelchair, shoved into an armoured car and whisked away.

Local TV footage showed Khan walking towards the Supreme Court on Thursday, wearing a traditional blue shalwar kameez, a black waistcoat and dark glasses.

The political crisis is eroding hopes that Pakistan can get its much needed programme with the IMF back on track soon.

While noisy politics generating volatility is nothing new for Pakistan and its investors, it disrupts discussions with the IMF, said Cathy Hepworth, head of emerging market debt at PGIM Fixed Income.

“It just delays and complicates decisions,” she said.

(Reporting by Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, Ariba Shahid in Karachi, Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore and Gul Yousafzai in Quetta; Writing by Shivam Patel; Editing by Krishna N. Das, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Frances Kerry and Nick Macfie)

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the REUTERS. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content. By Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Asif Shahzad

 

G7 finance ministers to vow support for Ukraine, seek ways to spur global economy as debt risks loom

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G7 finance ministers to vow support for Ukraine, seek ways to spur global economy as debt risks loom

G7 finance ministers to vow support for Ukraine, seek ways to spur global economy as debt risks loom

NIIGATA, Japan (AP) — Financial leaders of the Group of Seven advanced economies are discussing ways to support Ukraine and pressure Russia to end the war as they meet in Japan starting Thursday.

Ukraine’s finance minister, Serhiy Marchenko, was participating online in the first session of the G-7 talks in Niigata, a port city on the Japan Sea coast.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the G-7 nations “will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes” to end the conflict. The leaders will be mulling ways to prevent Russia and other countries from circumventing sanctions against Moscow for its invasion, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told reporters.

“We have taken a wave of actions in the past few months to crack down on evasion. And my team has traveled around the world to intensify this work,” Yellen said.

The war and its toll on the global economy, debt crises in developing countries and a stalemate in Washington over the national debt are topping the agenda of the three days of talks by finance ministers and central bank governors of G-7 countries and others invited to attend.

Despite the wide range of topics due for consideration, from climate change to debt relief to digital currencies, the standoff over the U.S. debt ceiling and a potential default loomed as a major potential threat to the global economy.

Speaking before the closed-door meetings began, Yellen said one of her priorities was to emphasize the importance of resolving the crisis.

“A default is frankly unthinkable,” she told reporters. “America should never default. It would rank as a catastrophe.”

Japan’s central bank governor, Kazuo Ueda, echoed that sentiment.

If the United States defaults on its debt, “it will become a big move and a big problem, and I think that the Fed alone, for example, may not be able to counteract it,” said Ueda, who took the helm of the Bank of Japan last month.

READ MORE : G-7 leaders to hold 3 expanded sessions at Hiroshima summit

He said he trusted the U.S. government would do its best to avoid such a situation.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he and congressional leaders had a “productive” meeting Tuesday on trying to raise the nation’s debt limit. They will meet again Friday to try to avert the risk as soon as June 1 of an unprecedented government default if lawmakers in the divided Congress don’t agree to raise the debt ceiling.

Biden said he was “absolutely certain” that the country could avert a default. Yellen also said she was “very hopeful” the problem can be resolved in time.

Yellen also will be seeking to reassure her counterparts over recent bank failures that have raised worries over risks for the global financial system.

She said Biden’s “historic” investments in modernizing U.S. infrastructure were a step toward improving the resilience of an economy whose reliance on global supply chains was sorely tested during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are taking a broad range of individual and joint actions to bring down inflation, sustain growth, and help mitigate the impact of external shocks, including to developing countries,” she said.

But she added that, “even as we face downside risks, I believe that the global economy remains in a better place than many predicted six months ago.”

The Federal Reserve said in a report this week that U.S. banks raised their lending standards for business and consumer loans in the aftermath of three large bank failures that were in part brought on by the central bank’s sharp increases in interest rates to beat down inflation that surged to four-decade highs after the pandemic.

The Fed surveyed 65 U.S. banks and U.S. branches of 19 foreign banks in late March and early April, well after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed in early March, touching off the latest round of bank turmoil. First Republic Bank failed earlier this month in the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

Inflation has remained stubbornly high. Consumer prices in the United States rose 0.4% in April, up sharply from a 0.1% rise from February to March, and measures of underlying inflation stayed high, a sign that further declines in inflation are likely to be slow and bumpy even though the annual increase of 4.9% was the smallest in two years.

Other G-7 economies are contending with even higher surging prices, obliging their central banks to raise interest rates that went to record lows in the early days of the pandemic.

G-7 financial leaders met just a month ago, in Washington during the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. There, they reiterated their commitment to helping economies cope with the impact of the war in Ukraine, to help heavily indebted countries resolve their financial vulnerability, fortify global health systems and help tackle climate change.

The G-7 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other invitees to the meetings in Niigata include the European Union, IMF and World Bank, and the finance ministers of Brazil, Comoros, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Singapore.

___

Associated Press journalist Haruka Nuga contributed to this report.

 

Diplomats of 3 Nations US, Qatar, Monaco Present Credentials to the President of India

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Diplomats of 3 Nations US, Qatar, Monaco Present Credentials to the President of India

Diplomats of 3 Nations US, Qatar, Monaco Present Credentials to the President of India

Diplomat Times (New Delhi)– The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu accepted credentials from the Ambassadors of the United States of America, Qatar and Monaco at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (May 11, 2023).

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti and diplomats of Qatar and the Principality of Monaco on Thursday presented their credentials to President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Eric Garcetti, the former mayor of Los Angeles, was confirmed on March as the nation’s next ambassador to India, 20 months after he was first nominated by Joe Biden and after weathering doubts about his truthfulness in a sexual harassment scandal involving a top adviser during his time at City Hall.

The 52-42 vote in a divided Senate gave the administration a long-sought victory in filling one of the country’s highest-profile diplomatic posts.

READ MORE : G-7 leaders to hold 3 expanded sessions at Hiroshima summit

Those who presented their credentials were:

1. H.E. Mr Eric Garcetti, Ambassador of the United States of America

2. H.E. Mr Mohammed Hassan Jabir Al-Jabir, Ambassador of the State of Qatar

3. H.E. Mr Didier Gamerdinger, Ambassador of Principality of Monaco

 

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the PBI Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

ASEAN leaders denounce Myanmar violence, discuss U.S.-China rivalries

Diplomat Times
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ASEAN leaders denounce Myanmar violence, discuss U.S.-China rivalries

ASEAN leaders denounce Myanmar violence, discuss U.S.-China rivalries

LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia – Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations denounced a weekend attack in Myanmar in a statement, with the country’s prolonged political crisis among the issues confronting ASEAN at the group’s summit that began Wednesday in Indonesia.

The statement was issued as diplomatic sources revealed a secret meeting between Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Myanmar’s military-appointed foreign minister Than Swe on the resort island of Bali last month.

There was no detail about the secret meeting, but Marsudi briefed other ASEAN foreign ministers on Monday that the “gap among all parties concerned in Myanmar is very wide” and that a peaceful solution to the Myanmar crisis may not be seen in the near future.

READ MORE : G-7 leaders to hold 3 expanded sessions at Hiroshima summit

In the stand-alone statement on Myanmar, ASEAN leaders said they were deeply concerned with the ongoing violence in the country, urging the immediate cessation of the use of force following the attack on a convoy of diplomats from Indonesia and Singapore on an aid mission in eastern Myanmar.

“We condemned the attack and underlined that the perpetrators must be held accountable,” the statement by the leaders of the 10-member group who are meeting in the fishing town of Labuan Bajo read.

Myanmar, an ASEAN member state in which the military seized power in a February 2021 coup, is absent from the two-day summit as host Indonesia has stood by the ASEAN position that the junta should only send a nonpolitical representative, if any.

The convoy carrying humanitarian aid for displaced people in Myanmar’s Shan State was attacked by unknown gunmen, but nobody was injured.

The ASEAN leaders called for an environment that enables the safe and timely delivery of humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogues.

They also expressed their support for Indonesia, this year’s chair, to continue its engagement with all stakeholders in Myanmar in order to encourage progress in the implementation of the so-called five-point consensus agreed upon at a special ASEAN summit in April 2021 attended by Myanmar junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

Steps laid out in the consensus include ending the junta’s violence against political opponents and civilian protesters “through concrete, practical and time-bound actions.”

Progress on the implementation of the consensus will be discussed on the second day of the summit, during which some decisions may be made, including on an implementation plan, according to diplomatic sources.

A draft chairman’s statement, seen by Kyodo News, said the leaders are expected to commend “the successful partial delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Myanmar on 7 May 2023, despite the challenging security situation,” referring to the attacks on the convoy.

Other topics discussed by the leaders of ASEAN on Wednesday included efforts to maintain a central role in the region amid increasing rivalry between the United States and China, according to the draft.

Regarding a proposed “code of conduct” agreement in the South China Sea, currently being drawn up by ASEAN and China to help avert confrontation in the region, the leaders are set to welcome “the initiative to expedite the COC negotiation,” according to the draft.

The agreement will include “the proposal to develop guidelines for accelerating the early conclusion of an effective and substantive COC,” it said.

On Wednesday, the leaders adopted a road map for East Timor’s full membership. The tiny country, which achieved formal independence in 2002, currently has ASEAN observer status.

In the road map, it was stipulated that East Timor must “prepare a financial scheme to meet all financial obligations of ASEAN membership” and must have adequate “physical infrastructure and logistics to host meetings and accommodate” ASEAN delegates.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the KYODO NEWS Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

By Christine Tjandraningsih and Puy Kea

G-7 leaders to hold 3 expanded sessions at Hiroshima summit

Diplomat Times
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G-7 leaders to hold 3 expanded sessions at Hiroshima summit

G-7 leaders to hold 3 expanded sessions at Hiroshima summit

TOKYO- The Group of Seven leaders are set to hold three outreach sessions with their counterparts from eight guest nations, including India and Brazil, during their meeting in Hiroshima next week, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

The three sessions will be part of a total of nine sessions during the three-day gathering of the G-7 leaders from May 19 in the western Japanese city, the sources said. When the G-7 summit was held in Germany last year, two sessions out of seven were open to guest countries.

Australia, Comoros, the Cook Islands, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam make up the other six invited countries.

The G-7 members have been seeking to strengthen ties with the “Global South,” a term collectively referring to emerging and developing countries in areas such as Asia and Africa.

READ MORE : G-7 Hiroshima Summit ; ministers agree on 5 principles to govern AI Risks

Issues such as China’s intensifying military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and food security are expected to be high on the agenda at the summit.

Most of the Global South countries have tried to avoid taking sides over the Russian war in Ukraine, amid the widening rift between a group of major developed democracies led by the G-7 and the Beijing-Moscow camp.

The G-7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, plus the European Union.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the G-7 summit’s chair, has said it is “essential to cooperate with a range of partners” in dealing with issues of energy, food security and climate change, and he will “work as a bridge” between the G-7 and the Global South.

On the first day of the summit, Japan is arranging for the G-7 leaders to visit the Peace Memorial Park, where they will lay flowers at the cenotaph for atomic-bomb victims, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum before discussions start at a hotel, according to the sources.

They will discuss regional affairs and the global economy on the first day, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expected to join a session online to discuss the war in the Eastern European nation, the sources said.

The second day’s talks will cover economic security, such as beefing up supply chains for semiconductors, as well as food, public health, development assistance, gender issues and climate change, while peace building will be addressed on the third day, according to the sources.

Kishida, who represents a constituency in Hiroshima, has a signature vision of a world without nuclear weapons and he plans to discuss nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation at a session, the sources added.

The heads of seven international organizations, including the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, have also been invited to the summit.

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the KYODO NEWS Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan arrested in Islamabad

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Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan arrested in Islamabad

Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan arrested in Islamabad

Diplomat Times (Islamabad)- Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been arrested as he appeared in court in Islamabad to face charges in a corruption case, with scores of security forces in riot gear dragging the high-profile politician into an armoured vehicle.

The arrest of Khan – who was ousted from power last April and has evaded arrest several times since – came hours after he released a video message reiterating his allegations that the country’s powerful military establishment had tried to assassinate him twice.

Khan’s arrest is the latest twist in a political and economic crisis that pits the popular former premier against the military and the government, led by the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, who he alleges have conspired to both remove him from power and make threats on his life, charges they deny.

READ MORE : anti-monarchist arrested in UK, they were protesting coronation

Source : The Guardian

Coronation: Who is Graham Smith? Head of anti-monarchy group

Shasi Kumar
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Coronation: Who is Graham Smith? Head of anti-monarchy group

Coronation: Who is Graham Smith? Head of anti-monarchy group

TN (UK)- THE head of England’s leading republican movement was arrested at an anti-monarchy protest in London on Saturday morning.

Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, was apprehended by police in St Martin’s Lane, Westminster.

Pictures appear to show demonstrators in yellow “Not My King” T-shirts, including Smith, having their details taken by officers.

The group had been walking behind a rental van full of hundreds of placards when they were stopped by police.

READ MORE : anti-monarchist arrested in UK, they were protesting coronation

Who is Graham Smith?

Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, a British republican pressure group, poses for a photograph outside Buckingham Palace in central London on May 8, 2018. Ben Stansall—AFP via Getty Images

Smith is currently living in London and has been campaigning against the monarchy for more than a decade.

From 2021, he has been chief executive of the leading anti-monarchy group in the UK.

Smith is also an author of the book Abolish the Monarchy: Why We Should and How We Will, published in 2023.

He previously described the actions of the police as “chilling” when it was revealed police had been profiling peaceful republican campaigners.

“We’re expecting at least a thousand people at our protest on Trafalgar Square on May 6,” he said.

“We will be loud, visible and unmissable, directly challenging the coronation and the monarchy.

“We fully expect the police to live up to their assurances that the protest will be allowed to carry on, but these latest actions and previous arrests may well have a chilling effect on what is lawful and peaceful protest.”

What is Republic group ?

Founded in 1983 as an umbrella group of anti-monarchists, Republic is a pressure group calling for an end to the U.K.’s system of constitutional monarchy and to replace the monarch with an elected head of state.

Previously, the group protested the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011 and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in 2018.

The latest opinion polls reflect declining support for the monarchy since the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II, and Charles’ personal approval rating has scarcely matched that of his mother.

Republic campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy and its replacement with an elected head of state.

The group, which claims to have the support of more than 80,000 republicans, was founded in 1983 as a group with only a handful of members.

Republic was officially incorporated as a campaign group in 2006.

They have been responsible for the nationwide campaign “Not My King” – of which placards were detained by the Met Police in London on Saturday morning.

By Laura Pollock, The National.  Editing Shasi Kumar

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the The National and TIME. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

anti-monarchist arrested in UK, they were protesting coronation

Diplomat Times
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anti-monarchist arrested in UK, they were protesting coronation

anti-monarchist arrested in UK, they were protesting coronation

The Guardian(UK)- Scotland Yard has been accused of an “incredibly alarming” attack on the right to protest after police used new powers to arrest the head of the leading republican movement and other organisers of an approved demonstration just hours before King Charles III’s coronation.

Graham Smith, the chief executive of Republic, had been collecting drinks and placards for demonstrators at the main site of the protest on Trafalgar Square two hours before the king was due to arrive at Westminster Abbey when he was stopped along with five others by police on nearby St Martin’s Lane.

The group had been walking behind a rental van containing hundreds of placards when they were approached by the police and searched.

READ MORE : Jill Biden in UK for King Charles’ coronation

Harry Stratton, a director at Republic, who arrived as Smith and the other protest organisers were detained, said: “They were collecting the placards and bringing them over when the police stopped them. The guys asked why and they were told: ‘We will tell you that once we have searched the vehicle.’ That’s when they arrested the six organisers.

“We asked on what grounds they had been arrested but they wouldn’t say. It is a surprise as we had had a number of meetings with the police. They had been making all the right noises.”

Human rights activist Peter Tatchell said the police had reneged on private assurances that the anti-monarchist protest could go ahead unimpeded.

He said: “They have gone back on these promises by arresting the head of Republic, seizing their placards and megaphones, submitting those here to photographic surveillance and constructing a watchtower in front of the demonstration so that the king would not see the protest as he passed by on the way to the palace.”

A wall was also constructed around Trafalgar Square mid-morning that blocked off many late-arriving protesters from joining the demonstration. They instead held a march around the perimeter.

Scotland Yard later said “several” arrests had been made for breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause public disorder, adding that lock-on devices used by protesters to attach themselves to street furniture had been found. The allegation was denied by Republic.

A Met spokesperson said: “We have made a number of arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace. The individuals have been held on suspicion of breaching the peace. Earlier today we arrested four people in the area of St Martin’s Lane. They were held on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance. We seized lock-on devices.

“A further three people were arrested in the area of Wellington Arch. They were held on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. There will be further updates.”

Stratton said the organizers of the protest had not possessed lock-on devices. “What would we lock on to? We are just protesting.” He added that one protestor at Trafalgar Square had been taken away by police as he had string on him. “It’s string that was part of his placard, he said. “What was he going to do with that?”

The Met police had tweeted earlier this week that they would have an “extremely low tolerance” of those seeking to “undermine” the day.

Under the new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to “lock on” are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing up to 12 months in prison.

Yasmine Ahmed, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, condemned the arrests. “The reports of people being arrested for peacefully protesting the coronation are incredibly alarming. This is something you would expect to see in Moscow, not London. Peaceful protests allow individuals to hold those in power to account, something the UK government seems increasingly averse to.”

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, said the human rights group had been concerned about Met statements about its “low tolerance” of protests. He said: “We need to see what details emerge around these incidents but merely being in possession of a megaphone or carrying placards should never be grounds for a police arrest.

Just Stop Oil said that about 13 of their protesters had been arrested on the Mall. A spokesperson for the campaign group said five demonstrators were also arrested at Downing Street and one on Piccadilly.

In one exchange caught on camera, the Just Stop Oil campaigner Ben Larsen, 25, told officers: “You’ve searched me and haven’t found shit.”

A police officer responded: “You need to educate yourself on what peaceful protest is.”

Separately, Animal Rising said a number of their supporters were arrested on Saturday morning while at a training session “miles away from the coronation”. Nathan McGovern, a spokesperson for the campaign group, said: “This is nothing short of a totalitarian crackdown on free speech and all forms of dissent.

“Just Stop Oil, Republic and Animal Rising have experienced the true character of this government’s attitude towards peaceful protest today. We are sleepwalking into fascism and it is every single person’s responsibility to stand up and say ‘No more.’”

Smith’s arrest, at about 7.30am, had come as hundreds of anti-monarchist protesters were gathering at Trafalgar Square with large flags and wearing yellow T-shirts as they looked to catch both the eye of the world’s media and that of a king on his coronation day.

By Daniel Boffey, The Guardian.  Editing Shasi Kumar

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the The Guardian. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

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