Man arrested outside Buckingham Palace for throwing shotgun cartridges

Days before King Charles III's coronation, a man was arrested outside the Buckingham Palace in London on Tuesday after he threw suspected shotgun cartridges into the palace grounds.

The arrest comes just days before King Charles III's coronation, which will be attended by 2,000 guests including foreign monarchs from across the world.

According to the police, a man approached the gates of Buckingham Palace at around 7:00 pm BST and threw a number of items, suspected to be shotgun cartridges into the Palace grounds.

"Officers worked immediately to detain the man and he has been taken into police custody. There have been no reports of any shots fired, or any injuries to officers or members of the public. Officers remain at the scene and further inquiries are ongoing," Met Police chief superintendent Joseph McDonald said in a statement.

"The man has been arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon after he was searched and a knife was found. He was not in possession of a firearm. Cordons were in place after the man was also found to be in possession of a suspicious bag," the police statement said.

"Specialists attended and following an assessment a controlled explosion was conducted as a precaution. We are not treating the matter as terror-related and there were no reports of any shots fired or injuries to officers or the public," it added.

The coronation of Charles III is set to take place on Saturday, May 6. King Charles, 74, took over the throne in September 2022 after the death of his mother and Britain's longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.

The ceremony will be celebrated countrywide including a star-studded concert at Windsor Castle that is set to kickstart the King's official reign as sovereign.

Thousands of ceremonial troops is expected to take part in a procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey as part of the coronation, amid huge crowd.