What Theresa May protester was actually arrested for

A protester who was arrested after blowing a bugle as Prime Minister Theresa May arrived in North Wales was arrested on suspicion of a ‘breach of the peace’.

The tool used by the police came into being with the 1915 Indictments Act.

It is used to prevent ‘unlawful violence against people or property’.

A case in 1981 is credited with the most concise definition of a breach of the peace. The website In Brief reports that the correct definition of a breach of the peace is that “the behaviour of the person involved caused a police officer or private citizen to believe that a) a breach of the peace had or would occur and that b) it related to harm which was actually done or likely to be done to a person or, in his/her presence, their property.”

The man was arrested this morning as Theresa May arrived in Gresford in Wrexham ahead of the Conservative Manifesto’s Wales launch.

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A bugle was heard to sound as she got out of her car. Moments later, a young man with dreadlocks was seen being picked up off the ground by several police officers and taken to a waiting police van. A second man was also seen to be in cuffs, but it is not known if the second man was arrested.

Cries of “this is what happens when you challenge austerity” could be heard as the arrest went on.

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Police have the power to arrest in a suspected breach of the peace situation. In many cases a breach of the peace does not involve a charge or court appearance. Often a suspect is released once it is established that the likely threat if a breach of the peace has been neutralised.

In some cases though, charges and a court appearance can follow, depending on the severity of the incident.