‘DISGRACEFUL’
Damning verdict on the police by young woman manhandled by mob of officers
A WOMAN pinned to the ground and arrested during a vigil for Sarah Everard branded the police response ‘disgraceful’ yesterday.
The image of 5ft 2in Patsy Stevenson, 28, being held down by male officers during a demonstration to highlight violence against women was widely condemned.
Miss Stevenson, a physics student at Royal Holloway, University of London, said she attended the vigil at Clapham Common on Saturday afternoon to ‘remember Sarah’ and support women who live in fear of men.
She insisted she did nothing to warrant arrest, explaining that she was manhandled by a number of police officers and pushed to the floor.
Miss Stevenson is now hoping to ‘have a conversation’ with Dame Cressida about the police response and the decision to make arrests and issue £200 fines for breaching coronavirus regulations.
She is also ‘rallying the troops’ for a further demonstration planned outside Parliament this afternoon.
Speaking to the Left-wing blog Counterfire, she said: ‘I’m 5ft 2in and I weigh nothing, and several police were on my back trying to arrest me.
‘They arrested me in cuffs, dragged me away surrounded by like ten police officers and when we got in the van they said we just need your name and your address and we’ll let you go with a fine.’
Miss Stevenson said the decision to deploy large numbers of officers increased tensions at what had been a largely peaceful vigil.
An initial demonstration planned by the campaign group Reclaim These Streets was cancelled after police raised concerns and the matter was taken to the High Court – however, a judge refused to intervene.
Despite the cancellation, around 1,500 people descended on the common in south London, with many lighting candles as a mark of respect. Scotland Yard said
that from 6pm, officers were ‘placed in a position’ where ‘enforcement was necessary’ after people began gathering in large groups to listen to speeches.
Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball added that a small minority of people began ‘chanting at officers, pushing and throwing items’.
Four people were arrested. Miss Stevenson said: ‘There does need to be a change where women have freedom to live their lives in peace without fear. The fact the police turned up was just disgraceful, because before then it was a peaceful protest.’
Of the actions of officers, she added: ‘I think it’s showing women we can fight against them and it’s just going to push us more.’
A separate vigil in Glasgow on Saturday organised by Reclaim These Streets passed without any major incident. But one of its organisers, Jenn Nimmo-Smith. said the group was ‘utterly disgusted’ with the ‘violent scenes’ in London, adding: ‘To witness the Met Police – as soon as it was dark – come down with such disproportionate force demonstrates just how little regard they have for our safety.’
Jamie Klingler, who helped create the Reclaim These Streets campaign, said the original vigil would have passed peacefully had Scotland Yard not forced it to cancel. ‘I think we were shocked and really, really sad to see videos of policemen handling women at a vigil about violence against women by men,’ she said. ‘The fact that nobody stepped in and said, “Do you see how this looks?”’
‘Do you see how this looks?’