Five arrests as campaigners try to disrupt royal-themed race evening at Doncaster

Campaigners from animal rights group Animal Rising, which tried to stop the Grand National last month, were held after running onto the track in a bid to stop the final race during the racecourse’s Royal Race Evening around 7.40pm.

South Yorkshire Police said the five were “swiftly detained” by officers. Two men, 26 and 24, and three women, 34, 26 and 23, who were arrested on suspicion of intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance, remained in custody yesterday.

The group said it was their first flat race protest, and while flat racing was less dangerous for the horses, the sport uses animals for entertainment and is “a clear example of how far we are from our ideals as a nation of animal lovers”.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer denied that officers had gone too far following 52 arrests in the capital.

Another 14 members of Animal Rising were released after being held at an all-day “nonviolence” training session in Hackney several miles away from the procession.

Chief executive of anti-monarchy group Republic Graham Smith tweeted there was “no longer a right to peaceful protest in the UK” after he was arrested reportedly after collecting drinks and placards for demonstrators at Trafalgar Square two hours before the King was due to arrive at Westminster Abbey.

Ms Frazer said: “What they have to do is balance the right to protest, which is important in a democracy.

"At the same time there’s the right of all those other people to enjoy what was a fabulous day. I think, overall, they managed to get that balance right.”

Under the controversial 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 12 months in prison.

Ms Frazer said she trusted the police to use the new laws which were intended to “redress the balance” after a recent change in demonstrators’ tactics, adding: “We’ve seen in this country a rise in protests and the way people are protesting that is interfering with the rights of people to go around their daily life.”

The Met said it received information that protesters were “determined to disrupt” the coronation – including defacing public monuments with paint, breaching barriers and disrupting official movements.

However campaigners said the protests were “peaceful” and the arrests marked “a dangerous precedent for us as a democratic nation”.

The Lib Dems’ deputy leader Daisy Cooper said she had “concerns” the police may not have got the balance right in handling protests.

She said: “What worries is me is that the Conservative government have now increased these sort of wide-ranging powers … what they haven’t done is enshrined the sort of legal responsibility and the duty on the police to actually facilitate peaceful protest.”