Pressure on Met Police chief to quit over rough treatment of women at Everard vigil

There were horrifying scenes of women being manhandled and restrained on the ground by police after clashes broke out at a cancelled vigil to commemorate the life of Sarah Everard in London on Saturday evening.

The shocking scenes of the Met Police’s handling of the gathering on Clapham Common have already been met with an outpouring of condemnation after they went viral on social media, prompting calls for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, to resign over the incident. Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, was among the first to call for  Dick to stand down while the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, also expressed concern, saying that some of the footage circulating online from the vigil was “upsetting” and that she had asked the Met for a full report on what happened.

Videos which went viral on social media showed several women being put in a police van and driven away, as onlookers cried out “shame on you” and “let them go.” Other observers were demanding to know how the Met – which is under the control of London Mayor, Sadiq Khan – could have been allowed to spiral out of hand at such a sensitive time.

While the gathering in Clapham, south London, was largely peaceful, footage posted on social media shows scuffles breaking out at the front of a crowd after police tried to forcibly remove speakers from a bandstand covered in floral tributes.

The clashes have come after the news that a serving Met Police officer had been charged with the murder and kidnap of Everard, whose remains were discovered in woodland in Kent after her disappearance on 3 March.

Hundreds of mourners gathered at Clapham Common today to remember Everard, despite the organisers announcing on social media that the planned vigil would be cancelled due to concerns from the Met Police about Covid restrictions. Earlier in the day the Duchess of Cambridge made a private trip to pay her respects to the 33-year-old marketing executive.

The cancelled vigil was organised by a group called Reclaim These Streets, which said they wanted to gather in order to express their anger at violence against women in the UK.

The group said that both Lambeth Council and the Met Police had initially given them a positive response to their plans to hold a vigil at Clapham Common on Saturday. But in a later statement they said the police had reversed their position, saying the event would be unlawful and that organisers could face £10,000 fines under coronavirus laws, and prosecution under the Serious Crimes Act.

On Friday, Reclaim These Streets brought urgent legal action at the High Court in a bid to ensure the vigil could go ahead safely. In a statement, they said: “We have decided to seek an urgent order from the High Court confirming that the Metropolitan Police’s understanding of the law is wrong”.

But the court refused to intervene over the police attempt to ban the vigil. In the ruling on Friday, Justice Holgate refused an application by Reclaim These Streets for the High Court to make “an interim declaration” that any ban on outdoor gatherings under Covid rules was “subject to the right to protest”. The judge also refused to make a declaration that an alleged policy by the Met Police of “prohibiting all protests, irrespective of the specific circumstances” was unlawful.

Following this decision, the Met Police urged people to find a “lawful and safer way” to express views on women’s safety, and Reclaim These Streets said that “in light of the lack of constructive engagement for the Metropolitan Police, we do not feel that we can in good faith allow tonight’s event to go ahead”. The group said that they strongly encouraged people not to gather on Clapham Common and that those who still wanted to engage with the event should hold a doorstep vigil at 9:30 pm to remember Everard.

The London Mayor said: “The scenes from Clapham Common are unacceptable. The police have a responsibility to enforce Covid laws but from images I’ve seen it’s clear the response was at times neither appropriate nor proportionate. I’m in contact with the Commissioner and urgently seeking an explanation”.

The incident has also prompted many politicians and observers to question the severity of the Covid lockdown restrictions being enforced by the police, with many pointing out that the treatment of the women on Clapham Common was far tougher than protestors who attended the BLM and Extinction Rebellion protests last year.