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It should probably not be a surprise average Britons protesting against the expensive relic known as the Crown were arrested during the ostentatious funeral procession of Queen Elizabeth II.

The arrests, serious violations of the natural right to peaceful protest, are to be expected from a state that has upheld a corrupt, inbred, and brutal monarchy for centuries. Naturally, the arrests for nonviolent protest, at least here in the “West,” were lightly reported.

Apparently more newsworthy, a “man was arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of sedition after playing the harmonica at a vigil for Queen Elizabeth II, under a colonial-era law that once outlawed insulting the Queen—and has now been revived by authorities amid an ongoing crackdown,” according to the corporate propaganda media, in this instance CNN. The man tooted “Glory to Hong Kong,” a protest song created during antigovernment protests in 2019.

Welcome to the 15th century! Is it possible this criminal will be hanged, drawn, and quartered (also emasculated, disemboweled, and beheaded), the offender’s parts displayed on the London Bridge for all the commoners to see, so they dare not complain about inflation, recession, poverty, and the prospect of freezing this winter.

Hong Kong island became a British “dependent territory… into perpetuity” after it was invaded in 1841 when the locals tried to put an end to the British “opium trade,” a deadly drug dealing operation established by the British East India Company,  a monopoly held in place by “royal charter.” In the early 19th century, America also began selling opium in China.

Arrests for daring to criticize the monarchy were not limited to England and Hong Kong. Arrests also occurred in Scotland:

The “Duke of York,” “Prince” Andrew, accused of allegedly having sex with at least one underage girl (Virginia Giuffre)—thanks to the services of the supposedly late Jeffrey Epstein and his procure (or pimp) of 14-year-old girls for the elite (allegedly including an ex-president), Ghislaine Maxwell—was “heckled” (called out as a sick pervert) by an onlooker as the funeral procession moved up “Royal Mile” in Edinburgh, Scotland. The man was wrestled to the ground and arrested for the crime of disgust over the pedophilia of a “noble of the peerage.”

In Scotland, it is a serious crime to offend the King. Yahoo News UK reports:

Symon Hill, an anti-monarchy demonstrator, was arrested after shouting at an accession proclamation for the King.

Hill, 45, said he was was walking home from church on Sunday when he came across a public formal reading of the proclamation of the accession for Charles in Carfax, Oxford.

He was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act after shouting “Who elected him?” during the reading.

Irish protesters made their opinion of the monarchy known in a somewhat dramatic fashion:

Meanwhile, in the “Commonwealth,” outraged commoners also protested the monarchy.

“Hundreds of people protested at anti-monarchy rallies across Australia on Thursday, as the country observed a national day of mourning for the late Queen Elizabeth II. The government declared Thursday a nationwide public holiday,“ reports the Associated Press.

The crimes of the British Empire are numerous and excessively sordid. “Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room when it comes to ‘mourning’ the queen,” writes Genna Rivieccio for Culled Culture.

Because, for the better part of her reign, she was billed as something of a stoic parasite (see: the “Sovereign Grant”). Which is, in effect, what all royals can’t help but being (again, the “Sovereign Grant”). And since most of them are concentrated in England, all eyes are on that island more than ever as the world watches yet another monarch (arguably, one of the most clueless yet) ascend to the throne.

The UK is in the process of economic disintegration. “Too many people do not have reliable access to the resources they need to meet the day-to-day costs for a decent quality of life,” notes the New Economics Foundation.

New forecast modelling produced for this report [“The UK’s Living Standard Crisis”] shows that by the end of the year [2021], and without a change in government policy, 32% of the UK population – 21.4 million people – will be living below a socially acceptable living standard, as measured by the Minimum Income Standard (MIS). The MIS, the UK’s only needs-based approach to measuring living standards, identifies what needs must be met for an individual to thrive in the society in which they live.

The new UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, is a dyed-in-the-wool Thatcherite wedded to the neoliberal policy of bleeding the middle class and poor dry for the benefit of a parasitical financial ruling class.

Truss’ chancellor of the exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, scrapped “the top rate of income tax in a boost to the highest earners, as well as delivering on cuts to corporate taxes, national insurance contributions and levies on home purchases that had been flagged in advance,” according to Bloomberg. “The final total didn’t even include the full cost of capping household energy bills for the next two years. That could add another £100 billion to taxpayers’ liabilities.”

As for King Charlie, there needs to be a sharper focus on the “Paradise Papers,” leaked documents that reveal the new King’s effort as prince to protect his ill-gotten millions in offshore tax havens, a standard practice for neoliberal and elite parasites.

For more on this, and other schemes and crimes of the financial elite, see “Paradise Papers: Secrets of the Global Elite.”

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This article was originally published on the author’s blog site, Kurt Nimmo on Geopolitics.

Kurt Nimmo is a regular contributor to Global Research.