Police have arrested a man who attempted to grab at the Queen‘s coffin – in an incident which left mourners stunned.
Officers tackled the man to the floor during the jaw-dropping incident, which took place around 10pm at Westminster Hall on Friday.
It is believed the man pushed through a queue of mourners, among them a seven-year-old girl, rushed up to coffin and tried to lift the royal standard. He is then thought to have put his hands on the Queen’s casket.
The Queen has been lying in state at Westminster Hall since Wednesday, when her coffin was brought from Buckingham Palace to the historic venue to allow people to come and pay their respects.
But mourners were left visibly shocked during Friday night’s incident – which took place just hours after King Charles and his family held a vigil in honour of the Queen.
Alongside siblings Anne, Andrew and Edward, the newly crowned monarch stood guard beside his mother’s coffin.
Last night, one witness who saw the incident told MailOnline how a mourner ‘screamed’ when she saw the man running at the coffin.
The witness said: ‘We saw him (the man) in the queue from the beginning of the queue and throughout the day, he was by himself.
‘When we entered the room we were at the top of the stairs when we saw the incident. A lady screamed as it happened it was quite unnerving. Although he was detained and people kept calm and carried on.’
Another witness Tracey Holland, whose seven-year-old niece, Darcy, was pushed aside by the man as he rushed at the coffin, last night described the incident.
She said: ‘A 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. She was grabbed out the way and the police had him within two seconds.
Ms Holland added: (It was) terrible, absolutely terrible, so disrespectful and unbelievable – and this poor little seven-year-old child, this is her lasting memory of the Queen.’
The Metropolitan Police last night confirmed that a man had been arrested on suspicion of a public order offence.
A video grab posted to Twitter shows the moment of the incident at Westminster Hall. Police officers are tackling the man, circled, as he lifts the Royal Standard off the Queen’s coffin
A spokesperson for the force said: ‘At 10pm 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.’
A spokesperson for the the UK Parliament, said last night: ‘We’re aware of an incident in Westminster Hall, in which a member of the public moved out of the queue and towards the Catafalque.
‘They have now been removed from the Hall and the queue restarted.’
The Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall has been covered via a live stream on the BBC 24-hours a day since the coffin arrived at the venue on Wednesday.
But the cameras, which are delayed for around 30 seconds, quickly cut away from the coffin around 10pm on Friday, instead showing a moving image of the outside of the Palace of Westminster. The cameras did not turn back to the casket for around 15 minutes, at which point the Royal Standard appeared to have been moved.
One mourner who witnessed the incident, last night told The Sun: ‘It happened so fast. Someone got up to the coffin, grabbed the flag and pulled it upwards.
The mourner, who did not wish to be named, described members of the public ‘hysterically crying’ and ‘shaking’ after the incident.
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