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Security scare as slavery protester is just 10ft from the Queen
Last updated at 08:37am on 28.03.07
Toyin Agbetu brought proceedings to a halt when he ran in front of the altar at Westminster Abbey shouting
Another embarrassing breach in royal security was exposed when a screaming protestor got within feet of the Queen
The lone demonstrator spent several seconds unchallenged in front of her before police and security staff restrained him.
The protest momentarily startled the Queen and dramatically disrupted the Westminster Abbey slave trade abolition service, which she and Prince Philip were attending alongside VIPs including Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Toyin Agbetu, wearing an Africanstyle tunic and carrying a shoulder bag, simply strode from his seat in the abbey and began to shout and gesticulate in full view of the royal couple and a congregation of 2,000.
He walked towards the altar and screamed: "This is an insult to us. You should be ashamed."
Later he demanded that the Queen should apologise for her ancestors' role in supporting the slave trade.
Agbetu demanded that the Queen apologise for slavery. Her Majesty can be seen sitting in the top right corner of the photo
The protest - which Mr Agbetu was allowed to sustain for several minutes before he was escorted out - interrupted Absolution prayers but only temporarily halted the service, held to mark the 200th anniversary of the Act that abolished the slave trade.
An urgent review was launched to discover how such a glaring security lapse could blight such a high profile event, at the height of the capital's current state of alert.
One guest told the Daily Mail: "If this guy had had a bomb in his bag or a gun in his belt it would have been a catastrophe. The way he was allowed to spring up unchallenged was incredible.
"Because of how he was dressed, we all started checking our order of service to see if it was part of the proceedings. It soon became clear it was not.
"The most worrying thing was the space everyone seemed to give him. At the closest point he must only have been ten feet from the Queen. He was on his own for maybe five or six seconds before they got to him."
Mr Agbetu, 39, was still shouting and pointing at the Queen as he was shunted down the aisle by plain clothes police officers and abbey ushers. He was handcuffed outside and led away by police, some armed.
Apart from her initial start, the Queen appeared calm and untroubled by the interruption.
Agbetu demanded that the Queen apologise for slavery
Mr Agbetu, who said he planned the protest in advance, is believed to have got a ticket for the service through the Ligali Organisation, which fights for equality for African people. He is the group's head of social and education policy and a long-time campaigner for black people's rights.
Outside the abbey he told me: "It was an insult to us. There was no mention in there of African freedom fighters. What about my ancestors? Where were the Africans talking about how they feel?
"The Queen needs to say she is sorry. Elizabeth I commissioned John Hawkins, financed him, and funded him to go to my continent and enslave my people."
Stabbing his finger towards the abbey doors, he added: "The three major institutions involved in slavery - the monarchy, the government and the church - are all inside there, patting each other on the back. No one has had the decency to say the word Sorry."
Not flustered: The Queen keeps her cool at the ceremony
Radio presenter Henry Bonsu, a friend of Mr Agbetu, described him as 'always law-abiding', adding: "In the cold light of day, people will see that he wasn't threatening the Queen. He just wanted to make his point at the moment the cameras of the world were on the abbey."
The royal security lapse was one of a series in recent years.
These have included a selfstyled 'comedy terrorist' gatecrashing Prince William's birthday party at Windsor in 2003, plus two instances of reporters smuggling fake bombs past security checks.
Although security checks were in place yesterday at the main abbey entrance, and included scanners and occasional body searches, they were not universal.
Carrying a shoulder bag packed with wires and computer equipment, for example, I walked through an archway behind the abbey and directly inside, simply by flashing a pink cardboard ticket and announcing that I was from the Press.
The congregation at the service boasted descendants of slaves and of William Wilberforce, who campaigned two centuries ago to abolish slavery.
In a sermon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said that even 200 years on, slavery in various forms remained 'hideously persistent' around the world.
Reader views (17)
It is not the PUBLIC who need apologise for slavery - many in Britain were treated little better than slaves at the time - but it was the British monachy and the government that were instrumental in establishing and managing the slave trade for many years.
- John, London
When I attended the Queen Morter's laying-in-state every visitor was scanned through an airport style metal detector device. I accept that everyone who attended the service yesterday was there by invitation but this could have ended so very differetly if the protestor was intent on causing harm. There should be a single protocol for security when the Monarch is in attendence.
With regards to the actual topic; It is niave to expect people to apologise for the actions of their ancestors.
- Ian Parkinson, Stockton on Tees
Much as Yera Morogo's comments make some sense, he's still failed to explain why the majority of the UK public should apologise for something our families would never have anything to do with. Does he believe that all UK Caucasians are actually complicit in the slave trade or behind the scenes governmental corruption?
- Mike , London
I totally agree with what George is saying. I'm still waiting for the Romans to apologise for their part in slavery, also the Vikings for thier part in pillaging our country... or should I say, get real George, what's been done is done. What we do in the future makes the difference, and as far as I'm concerned, we are making efforts to help most African nations.
I for one will not apologise for something to which I took no part in, I cannot apologise for what my ancestors did, purely because that's how the world has been shapped through the centuries, and to a degree, still goes on today.
I doff my cap sire.
- Bill, Notts UK
As a white Australian I cannot completely understand the complex emotional/spiritual issues being dealt with today by the descendants of African slaves, however I can imagine why Mr. Agbetu is so passionate about this issue, and why he felt driven to protest in such a manner. Whether or not this actually achieved anything tangible is another matter again. Slavery has always existed, but that doesn't mitigate in any way the horrors of the era presently discussed. Whole societies were permanently shattered and the reverberations are felt today all over the world. Slavery still exists, so perhaps the best form of reparation would be to work hard to eradicate it as far as possible. It's silly to speak of fiscal reparation, as you cannot pay a dead person, and such dislocations of family, tribe and nation, such personal anguish cannot be measured monetarily. We can express regret that so many enriched themselves at the expense of the slaves, we can also celebrate the courage and resolution of those who stood for what was right and brought about abolition. Let's work together to move forward; arguing about foolish notions of fiscal reparation only make mockery of a serious contemporary issue.
- Kerrie-Ann, Reading, England
The rich/powerful have always exploited the weak. In the old days they were just less subtle about it.
- Jan, Bath
I completely agree. I'm ashamed of what our ancestors did but nor I or Tony Blair or anyone in our life time actively took part so why should they apologise?
- Lizzy Jones, Portsmouth UK
I sincerely hope Mr Agbetu will also pursue an apology as vehemently as described above from the governments of Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and many other west African nations whose ruling elites back in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were equally complicit in this repugnant trade in human lives.
- Michael, London
You guys are missing the point here. Listen to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams: "We, who are the heirs of the slave-owning and slave-trading nations of the past, have to face the fact that our historic prosperity was built in large part on this atrocity. Those who are the heirs of the communities ravaged by the slave trade know very well that much of their present suffering and struggling is the result of centuries of abuse."
So, there is the reason why the present has to answer for the past. I am an African living in the hell that Africa has been turned into and no matter how hard we try to wiggle our way out of this mire, the forces against us are just too many starting with the twin legacies of slavery and colonisation, the London and Paris Clubs etc. Oh, Africans have tried many times to take charge of their own destiny but as we have witnessed, doesn't the West always decide who become our leaders anyway? And if we dare disagree they get rid of those we choose. Think Lumumba and think the behind-the-scenes manouverings of the British Govt in Nigeria. Come on... Africans know that slavery robbed them of quality talents and brains, dislodged people and created massive cultural and social upheavals from which we have not recovered until now. A simple "sorry" cannot reverse centuries of dehumanisation but the arrogance of today's Western leaders can also not just be simply overlooked by passionate Africans such as Toyin Agbetu.
- Yera Morogo, Lagos Nigeria
Definite North/South divide so far! First 4 comments are quite right, it is palpable nonsense to apologise for our ancestors. Should Italy apologise for what the Romans did? The human race has matured and the majority of us know slavery is wrong, but in the past it was part 'n' parcel of existence. We should applaud our ancestors for realizing slavery is wrong and for starting the fight against it.
- Bob Clack, London, UK
France abolished slavery in 1794 and Napoleon restored it in 1802... it was 1845 before children had any freedom from their factory drudgery in England.
- Tomtom, Leeds England
When is it going to be understood that we are marking the abolition of the slave trade, when this nation stood almost alone to fight this vile trade. Africa was involved in the enslavement and trading of its Continent people long before the UK and carried on long after we abolished it. The UK population also suffered enslavement from, amongst others, the Vikings, Romans, Barbary Coast pirates and even our own ‘masters’ held us in Serfdom. The past is the past we do not expect, or want, apologies from those who raped pillaged and enslaved Britain’s in the past but perhaps we do not blame others for our shortcomings.
- Dave , Bristol England
It's a nonsense is it not? To demand an apology centuries on from the crime can only produce hollow, meaningless platitudes.
- Jk, London, UK
European Christian societies persecuted Jews for a 1,000 years on the basis of the hereditary nature of sin and the acts of their "fathers". Is this the next piece of hereditary angst we are supposed to re-subscribe to? Selective sin? I can no more apologise for my "ancestors" than I can be responsible for them. Enough liberal self-seeking pity. Get on with the real world. Today. Now. Africans in Africa might appreciate it.
- Elspeth, London
The horrors of slavery are undeniable. However, I am more concerned about slavery today than about slavery hundreds of years ago. It still exists and yet people seem far more concerned about extracting apologies from people who had nothing to do with it. Virtually the whole world for thousands of years practiced it. Little mentioned is the role the indigenous Africans played in the slave trade, capturing members of opposing tribes and delivering them to the slave traders on the beaches for payment. No one's hands were clean in this horror. But what is worse is that the horror still exists and the world looks the other way, worrying more about a past we cannot change.
- R M, London, UK
As far as I'm aware Elizabeth II is a Windsor, Elizabeth I was a Tudor so there's no direct blood relation between them, obviously this doesn't mean to say that none of the Windsors had anything to do with the slave trade just that this gentlemen (and I may be wrong) is asking the Queen to apologise for a great aunt removed numerous times.
- Trevor Roll, London
It is very easy to understand Toyin Agbetu protest today, when you consider the inhumane way African were treated and are now still being looked down upon. If the British government really believe they are sorry as Tony Blair is now saying, then they should calculate and pay back to Africans (with interest) all the wealth they gain from the slave trade. The church also were paid over £9,000 when the slave trade was abolished. If they should go according to the Bible then before they say sorry, they should give back that money (in today's equivalent value). You cannot repent without going back to the person you wronged and giving back what you took.
- George Halford, Leeds
