I have two reports of attacks on freedom of speech which occurred before the royal wedding. The first is internet malfeasance, the second is nothing short of class warfare.
Bella Caledonia, a Scottish blogger whom I trust, has reported that the following political accounts on facebook were blocked before the Royal Wedding:
Open Birkbeck
UWE Occupation
Chesterfield Stopthecuts
Camberwell AntiCuts
IVA Womensrevolution
Tower Hamlets Greens
No Cuts
ArtsAgainst Cuts
London Student Assembly
Beat’n Streets
Roscoe ‘Manchester’ Occupation
Bristol Bookfair
Newcastle Occupation
Socialist Unity
Whospeaks Forus
Ourland FreeLand
Bristol Ukuncut
Teampalestina Shaf
Notts-Uncut Part-of UKUncut
No Quarter Cutthewar
Bootle Labour
Claimants Fightback
Ecosocialists Unite
Comrade George Orwell
Jason Derrick
Anarchista Rebellionist
BigSociety Leeds
Slade Occupation
Anti-Cuts Across Wigan
Firstof Mayband
Don’t Break Britain United
Cockneyreject
SWP Cork
Westiminster Trades Council
York Anarchists
Rock War
Sheffield Occupation
Central London SWP
North London Solidarity
Southwark Sos
Save NHS
Rochdale Law Centre
Goldsmiths Fights Back
Attempting to avoid Egypt-style protests, any group which might have had a desire to organize a protest of the wedding was prevented from sending or receiving messages. This was probably because the Brits wanted communication about the Royal Wedding to be overwhelmingly positive. They did not want an international fiasco, or for the rest of the world to realize that the UK has massive problems right now.
Salon reports that in addition to this, the metro police did a sweep of downtown London, arresting political activists.
As the Guardian notes, senior police officers stated explicitly last week that "they would be taking preemptive action, including raiding squats and making arrests, in advance of the wedding to ensure that no criminal activity took place on the day," which makes apparent that today's arrests have little to do with "electricity abstraction" and more to do with containing unwanted elements in advance of the wedding day.
Thursday's allegedly unconnected arrests come on top of the news, reported earlier this week by the Telegraph, that nearly 70 anarchists have been banned from entering central London on the day of the wedding. (The bans are bail conditions.)
Turns out the fairytale is freedom of expression in the UK.