Vigil police ‘followed legislation to protect the public’

A SENIOR Metropolitan Police officer has said he cannot apologise for the actions of officers at the vigil for Sarah Everard at Clapham Common.

Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House, who served as an Inspector in West Yorkshire, said his officers were “doing their duty as they saw it” to enforce legislation at the event on Saturday.

It comes as chief inspector of constabulary Sir Thomas Winsor, who has been tasked with carrying out a review of the way the event was policed, told the PA news agency he was “confident” inspectors would report findings to the Home Secretary within two weeks, adding: “We are entirely driven by the evidence and we operate with no suppositions, assumptions or anything else.”

The vigil, in memory of Ms Everard, had originally been organised by the protest group Reclaim These Streets which was forced to cancel it after police said it would be in breach of coronavirus rules.

However, crowds still gathered to remember the 33-year-old marketing executive, whose death has led to an outpouring of grief and anger at violence against women.

While largely peaceful, it was marred by scuffles, with police accused of heavy-handedness.

Speaking to the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, Sir Stephen said: “I understand that their actions have upset people and we see the evidence of that on a daily basis and we do not underestimate the upset that has been caused.

“But the officers took their actions believing they were doing the right thing to protect people’s health, they were following legislation put in place by Parliament to protect the public in the middle of a health crisis.”