Protestor ejected from slave trade abolition abbey service
The service was being broadcast live on BBC1 when the protest occurred
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Tuesday, 27, Mar 2007 02:49
A protestor has been ejected from Westminster Abbey after disrupting a special service to mark the 200 years since the Slave Trade Act was abolished.
Toyin Agbetu left his seat from among the 2,000-strong congregation to walk towards the altar shouting "this is an insult to us" and "you should be ashamed", as the Queen and Tony Blair watched on.
"We should not be here, this is an insult to us. I want all the Christians who are Africans to walk out," he shouted as he himself was removed by security.
Speaking outside the abbey, Mr Agbetu, who had a ticket for the service and was due to by interviewed by news crews later on in the afternoon, demanded that the Queen apologise for the actions of English and British monarchies of the past.
"The Queen has to say sorry. Elizabeth I commanded [16th century slave trader and explorer] John Hawkins to take his ship," he said.
"The monarch and the government and the church are all in there patting themselves on the back."
Before being driven off in a police car, Mr Agbetu, from African human rights organisation Ligali, claimed that the service he had been ejected from was "just a memorial for William Wilberforce", the 19th century British politician who led calls to abolish the slave trade.
Earlier during the service, broadcast live on BBC1, the Queen had laid flowers on a memorial to William Wilberforce, while his descendant Lady Davson read a speech originally delivered to MPs more than 200 years ago.