By Sheila Mckenzie-
The Met Police face serious questions over its handling of a vigil for Sarah Everard, despite health restrictions due to the pandemic.
Protesters were not going to be prevented from protesting because of restrictions in the place, because of the horrifying news that a woman lost her life in the hands of a serving police officer.
With emotions boiling high over the senseless killing, protesters felt the issue warranted the protests, no differently from the mass protest reaction to the cruel killing of George Floyd during the height of the pandemic last March. Yet, the protests occurred amid current restrictions against gatherings due to the pandemic.
Calls for police chief Cressica Dick to resign were pushed back by Shadow policing minister, Sarah Jones, Kit Malthouse said she should remain in her post, as did Anna Birley from the group Reclaim These Streets. Cressica Dick highlighted the health risks of the gatherings.
In a letter to Dame Cressida, posted on Twitter on Sunday, Reclaim These Streets accused the Met chief of putting those who attended “at a serious health risk through a lack of Covid-safe marshalling” and “at risk of being manhandled, fined and arrested” by officers.
The group said it believed the Met had misrepresented a High Court ruling on Friday, when a judge refused to say the event would be permitted under coronavirus regulations.
Unprecedented Challenge
The group said it recognised that the police faced “unprecedented challenges”, but called on Dame Cressida to work with organisations and suggested it may still take “further legal action”
On Sunday, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, said she was personally appalled by the attack on Everard and she was more determined than ever to lead the organization.
She said she fully understood the strength of feeling in response to Everard’s case, but stressed that Saturday’s vigil was an unlawful gathering and officers had been put in a “very difficult position” trying to police a protest during a pandemic.
She said she had no plans to resign, adding that the arrests were do to breaches of coronavirus rules.
Scuffles
Police were seen scuffling with some women at the event, and one woman was seen pinned to the ground by two officers. Video widely shared on social media showed a woman was pulled up from the ground by officers who then shoved her from the back. Several women were led away in handcuffs as other people chanted “Shame on you” at police.
During Saturday’s handcuffed women and removed them from crowds on Clapham Common in London on Saturday.
The home secretary has commissioned an independent investigation into the force’s decisions, which were taken in the light of Covid-19 restrictions. Officers were accused of manhandling women protesting the cruel murder of Ms Everard by a serving police officer, who is meant to be protecting victims, especially women.
The rough handling was a far cry from the hands off approach during last year’s black lives matters protest.
Dame Cressida said she agreed on the need for a “sober review”, and defended how officers responded to the “really big crowd”.
“Quite rightly, as far as I can see, my team felt that this is now an unlawful gathering which poses a considerable risk to people’s health,” she said.
“I don’t think anybody who was not in the operation can actually pass a detailed comment on the rightness and wrongness… This is fiendishly difficult policing.”
She added: “What has happened makes me more determined, not less, to lead my organisation.”
Lessons Learnt
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Ms Patel had commissioned the police watchdog, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), to “conduct a lessons learned review in to the policing of the event”.
In a statement on Sunday night, he said he was “deeply concerned” by the scenes on Clapham Common and that Dame Cressida had “committed to reviewing how this was handled”.
He will chair a meeting of the government’s crime and justice taskforce on Monday to “look at what further action we need to take to protect women and ensure our streets are safe”.
“The death of Sarah Everard must unite us in determination to drive out violence against women and girls and make every part of the criminal justice system work to protect and defend them,” he added.
Earlier, Ms Patel said she had read a report from Dame Cressida about Saturday night’s events, but “questions still need to be answered”.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan had also called for an investigation, describing police actions as “unacceptable”.
Mr Khan said he had spoken to Dame Cressida and the deputy commissioner, and that he was “not satisfied with the explanation they have provided”.
In a statement posted on Twitter, he said he wanted HMIC to conduct a “full independent investigation of events” – and the Independent Office for Police Conduct to “investigate the actions of police officers”.
An official vigil planned on Clapham Common – near where Ms Everard was last seen alive on 3 March – had been called off earlier on Saturday after organisers Reclaim These Streets said police had failed to “constructively engage” on how it could be held in a Covid-secure way.
Mr Khan added that he had asked police to work with organisers so that the vigil could go ahead.
“I received assurances from the Metropolitan Police last week that the vigil would be policed sensitively. In my view, this was not the case,” he said.
Martin Hewitt, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, tweeted that he would “bring all police chiefs together” on Monday to discuss “what more we can do to better protect women”.
Killed By System
A woman at the gathering in Clapham Common hold a sign that reads: “Killed by the system we’re told protects”
But several hundred people gathered there to pay tribute to the 33-year-old – whose death has prompted a public debate over women’s safety – despite Covid restrictions.
In a letter to Dame Cressida, posted on Twitter on Sunday, Reclaim These Streets accused the Met chief of putting those who attended “at a serious health risk through a lack of Covid-safe marshalling” and “at risk of being manhandled, fined and arrested” by officers.
The group said it believed the Met had misrepresented a High Court ruling on Friday, when a judge refused to say the event would be permitted under coronavirus regulations.
It recognised that the police faced “unprecedented challenges”, but called on Dame Cressida to work with organisations and suggested it may still take “further legal action”.
Cries of “shame on you” and “let them go” could be heard from onlookers. The video showed them being put in a police van and driven away.
Police said four arrests were made at the vigil to “protect people’s safety”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the scenes were “deeply disturbing”, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for Dame Cressida to resign.
Delivering a statement in the early hours of Sunday, Met Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said hundreds of people were “packed tightly together”, posing a risk of transmitting Covid-19.
“We absolutely did not want to be in a position where enforcement action was necessary. But we were placed in this position because of the over-riding need to protect people’s safety,” she said in a statement.