LONDON – Clashes between officers of the London Metropolitan Police and crowds on a vigilance for a slain woman have led to widespread criticism of the power of activists and politicians across the spectrum.
Hundreds of people gathered in a South London park on Saturday to pay tribute to Sarah Everard, 33, whose disappearance and death gripped the country and sparked a national conversation about violence against women.
Wayne Couzens, an elite officer at the London Metropolitan Police’s diplomatic protection mission, is charged with her murder on Friday.
A vigil was arranged by the women’s rights group Reclaim the Streets on Saturday, but it was later canceled on the occasion when a judge refused to intervene in a legal challenge over their right to be heard during coronavirus restrictions. Only two people from different households are currently allowed to meet in a public space in the UK while pubs, restaurants and most shops remain closed.
However, hundreds of people turned up in the park. Many brought flowers and some held signs saying, “She just walked home.” Among them was Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge.
When the sunlight disappeared, the previously peaceful state of mind turned and police officers grabbed several women in the crowd, pulled them away and pulled them away.
Some people in the crowd chattered, shouted and shouted ‘shame’ at police officers who patrolled the event, and small minority people started chanting and throwing and throwing articles at officers, Metropolitan Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said earlier Sunday. said.
Four people were arrested, she said.
“We absolutely did not want to be in a position where enforcement action was needed,” Ball added. “But we were put in this position because of the urgent need to protect people’s safety.”
But the actions of the police have been widely criticized.
London Labor Party mayor Sadiq Khan said on Twitter that although officials had a responsibility to enforce the Covid-19 restrictions during the protest, it was clear that their response was “sometimes inappropriate or proportionate.”
Conservative Interior Minister Priti Patel called the scene “disturbing” and said in a statement that she had full report about what happened to the power.
On Twitter, opposition leader Liberal Democrats Ed Davey called Ball’s comments tone deaf. “Doubling” was not the right response, he said.
Reclaim the Streets said in a statement that they were “deeply saddened and angry” by the police response, adding that the force needed to understand that women need a place to reflect, to show solidarity and to To mourn Everard’s death.
The marketing manager disappeared from a friend’s home on March 3 when her body was found hidden in a bushveld in Kent, more than 50 km southeast of London, on Wednesday.
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Her disappearance brought shock waves through the country and thousands of women turned to her on social media to talk about harassment to which they were subjected, security issues and the failure of the criminal justice system to prosecute crimes against women.
A recent report for UN Women, a body for gender equality and the empowerment of women, showed that more than 70 per cent of women of all ages in the UK experienced some form of sexual harassment in public space.
Everard’s case has resonated with women around the world because what happened to her was the worst-case scenario, Jamie Klingler of Reclaim These Streets told NBC News on Saturday.
“It’s the absolute fear that you can do everything right and still end up in the worst situation because a man committed this violence against you,” she added.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Molly Hunter contributed.