Policing of vigil for Sarah Everard criticised

CONDEMNATION HAS been cast over the policing of a vigil to honour Sarah Everard from York in the days following her death after clashes broke out in the capital.

People nationwide paused to pay tribute on Saturday or to light a candle for the 33-year-old, and to honour the violence faced by women in a campaign calling for action to Reclaim These Streets.

But organisers, forced to cancel a vigil on Clapham Common amid claims it would breach coronavirus restrictions, argue this escalated tensions when people turned up.

After clashes broke out and arrests were made by officers from the Metropolitan Police, campaigners claim the force’s handling of events was a sign of the “systemic ignoring and oppressing of women”. Now, a leading expert on policing protests has spoken of his frustration at watching interventions unfold.

There was “no need” for the Met to act in dispersing those gathered, said Owen West, a former Chief Superintendent who served a 30-year career with West Yorkshire Police and was responsible for public order and protest policing in the county.

“To see the way the police have dealt with the situation has really angered me,” said Mr West, who in his time oversaw tense marches in Bradford and Halifax.

“For the life of me I can’t see why an intervention at that time and in that space would relate to the safety of that crowd.”

Mr West argued the Met should have worked with campaigners to facilitate a peaceful protest.

“On ethics and values it would have been the right thing to do,” he said. “The Government has not banned protests. There was no reason for the police to intervene.

Up and down the country the vast majority of protests are peaceful.”

The vigil had centred on a bandstand covered in flowers left in tribute to Sarah Everard, with the Duchess of Cambridge among those to have visited earlier in the day.

Patsy Stevenson, one of the people arrested during the vigil, has said she would like to “have a conversation” with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick. Ms Stevenson, who was pictured being held to the ground in handcuffs during clashes at the vigil, said she was still unsure why she had been detained and was contemplating whether to challenge the £200 fine she had received.

Martin Hewitt, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said he would bring together police chiefs today to discuss “what more we can do to better protect women”.

LEEDS: Police are hunting for thugs who set a large log on fire and placed it at the entrance of a badger sett.

Wildlife officers said they had dealt with the incident in the LS12 area.

A large log had been dragged to the entrance of a badger sett and set alight, police said.

They did not reveal the exact location of the offence to protect the sett.