Anti-monarchists handed pay-out

Scotland Yard is to pay £3,5000 each to a group of anti-monarchy protesters who claimed they were unlawfully arrested during the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Twenty-three members of Movement Against The Monarchy are to share the £80,500 out of court settlement after being arrested en masse.

It is thought to be the biggest group payout on a claim for unlawful arrest ever made by the Yard and comes in the same week as the families of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were told they would receive

compensation of £11,000 for the murders of their daughters.

The Metropolitan Police made the offer rather than go to court and face being forced to make even bigger payments by a judge.

A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard confirmed that the settlement had been reached. "There was an out-of-court settlement agreed between us and the 23 people," she said. "We have also written to them and apologised."

The group held its " Execute The Queen" protest on the day that more than one million people packed the streets of London to celebrate the Queen's 50 years on the throne.

They gathered, with banners proclaiming "we are ungovernable", at Tower Hill for their demonstration as the Queen in the Golden State Coach travelled in procession from Buckingham Palace to St Paul's on 4 June 2002. Then most of the 60 protesters went to a nearby pub, where more than 40 were arrested by 50 officers who led them out one by one. They were made to line up on the pavement to be filmed and photographed.

The group was so big that officers ordered a passing Routemaster to stop and take them to police stations across central London.

The No 11 bus was pressed

into service because there was not enough transport available to move the demonstrators, most of whom had been handcuffed. All were later released without charge.

Of the commandeering of the No 11, the Met spokeswoman said: "This was an extremely busy day and it made sense for the officer in charge to do so."

The episode is a major embarrassment and raises questions over why the arrests were made in the first place. The officers asked each protester if they intended to commit a breach of the peace. Those arrested claim they were taken away regardless of their answer.

Of the 40 people held, 23 decided to pursue compensation. Their spokesman Trevor Bark said: "This award, apology and acceptance of liability demonstrate that the police now accept no offences were committed, nor were likely to be.

We remain convinced that these tactics were employed, planned and co-ordinated in advance - and at a very senior level - in order to remove any dissent against the monarchy or the Jubilee Day celebrations."

The group is continuing to press for details of which senior officers ordered the arrest and why. The protest was the only one that was planned to mar the biggest celebrations in London for a generation.