A MAN has been charged after he rushed towards the Queen’s coffin and grabbed the flag in front of shocked mourners.
Muhammad Khan, 28, was tackled to the ground by cops last night after he grabbed the Royal Standard with both hands.
Police in Westminster Hall quickly carried him out of sight as live streams of the coffin cut out for around 15 minutes.
Khan, from Tower Hamlets, London, was today charged with behaviour indenting to cause alarm, harassment or distress under Section 4A of the Public Order Act.
He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday – the same day as the Queen’s funeral.
One witness told The Sun: “We thought someone had fainted and then we heard someone shriek.
“Someone got up to the coffin, grabbed the flag and pulled it upwards.
“They picked up the bottom and wafted it, almost to see what was underneath. It happened so fast.”
Another witness, Tracey Holland, said her seven-year-old niece was in the firing line as the man took his chance.
She told Sky News: “Some person decided they were going to push my [seven-year-old niece] out the way, run up to the coffin, lift up the standard and try to do I don’t know what.
“Darcy was grabbed out of the way and the police had him within two seconds.
“Terrible, absolutely terrible, so disrespectful and unbelievable – and this poor little seven-year-old child, this is her lasting memory of the Queen.”
A third mourner, who did not wish to be named, described members of the public “hysterically crying” and “shaking” after the intrusion.
A spokesperson for the Met Police said yesterday: “At around 22:00hrs on Friday 16 September 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.”
They later confirmed the man had been charged.
via The Sun
