By Burak Bir
LONDON (AA) — Ahead of Britain's first coronation service in nearly 70 years, anti-monarchy groups are urging the public not to swear allegiance to King Charles III.
People watching the coronation on Saturday will be invited to join a "chorus of millions" to swear allegiance to the king and his heirs.
However, anti-monarchy campaigners decried the call and said it should be ignored.
Speaking to Anadolu ahead of Saturday's coronation of Charles, Ben Clinton, an organizer of the anti-monarchy Republic group, said asking the public to swear allegiance to Charles "makes no sense."
Describing it as a "ridiculously poorly timed call," he said: "We're not here to serve him."
Citing a recent poll on British public support for monarchy, Clinton said the last 12 months had seen "a massive uptick” in people who say the monarchy should be abolished.
Britain is "certainly" closer than ever to the idea of abolishing the monarchy, he said.
"We're trying to push the debate forward," added Clinton, who is also the campaign coordinator of Labour for a Republic group.
Touching on Saturday's coronation protest, he said their main message would be that people wanted a head of state chosen in a more democratic way.
- Generation gap
A poll for ITV News found that support for the monarchy remains high in the over-60 age group, but declined dramatically among young people.
Among the middle-aged — who grew up in King Charles's youth — the monarchy still enjoys majority support at 53%, but for those 34 and under, only 39% support having a king.
Speaking to Anadolu on the behalf of the "No More Royals Oxford" group, a spokesperson said "it's utterly ridiculous" to ask people to swear allegiance to Charles.
"In the climate of ongoing repression, with the leaders of Republic arrested for peaceful protest, migrants demonized, and ordinary people being forced to choose between eating and heating their homes, we think it's especially outrageous," added the spokesperson.
The spokesperson said support for republicanism would only increase as young people are more likely to support abolition of the monarchy
"We're getting closer to abolition," added the spokesperson.
Meanwhile, ahead of the coronation, British police arrested five "Not My King" protesters early Saturday, including organizers in central London, and seized hundreds of signs.
Hours before the UK is to witness the first coronation of a monarch in nearly 70 years, the organizers of anti-monarchy protests were arrested, the Republic group and Alliance of European Republican Movements (AERM) said on Twitter.
In video footage shared by the AERM, Graham Smith, the chief executive of Republic, and Ben Clinton, an organizer from the group, can be seen being arrested by the police.
In response to a question posed by the AERM, police confirmed that they are under arrest but gave no further details.