Streets are not safe for women
AFTER the tragic murder of Sarah Everard, more has to be done to protect women. It isn’t just the streets at night: I was taken off my bike at the age of 13 at 7pm in the summer by the M25 Rapist, who attacked ten women and girls in 2001 and 2002. Thankfully, he died three years ago in his prison cell, ironically on International Women’s Day. We can help young woman to protect themselves and what they should and shouldn’t do as normal precautions. I believe we need to start in our schools. When young men are guided down the wrong road by porn, it can escalate into attacks on women.
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I CAN only imagine the tremendous sense of loss felt by all those who knew Sarah Everard. It is a sad reflection on our society that a woman can’t walk down the street in safety. In normal times, a vigil attended by thousands would be the right thing to do, but that is not possible during a pandemic. The vigil on Clapham Common was an illegal meeting and the Met was duty bound to break it up. It is right to have an investigation into whether inappropriate levels of force were used. We all must live within the law and there are ways to make your voice heard without breaking Covid rules.
JOHN GREEN, Sedgley, W. Mids.
STRICTLY speaking, the gathering was illegal and there was a possibility of spreading the coronavirus. But was that risk made any less by the actions of the police? Definitely not. It was wrong for men, whoever they were, to wade in such a brutal manner into a group of woman demonstrating about male violence. Why can’t senior police officers see that?
JIM CAMPBELL, Solihull, W. Mids.
WOMEN will never be completely safe on the streets. After I was assaulted in the 1960s, I carried a tin of corned beef in my handbag. Heavy with square corners, it would have been a brilliant weapon for bashing any assailant. Women must take safety seriously and wherever possible stick together because the world is full of predators. I wish the vigil could have been handled in a more dignified, respectful manner by lining the street with candles and phone lights while observing the two-metre rule.
I AGREE women should be free to walk alone, I have sympathy with the need to remember Sarah Everard and deplore the heavy-handed actions of the police. Nevertheless, we are in the middle of a pandemic. The whole country has put life on hold for the past 12 months and breaking the law could mean an even longer delay before life can return to normal. Please, ladies, find another way to make your feelings known.
COVID laws prevented me from visiting my dying husband in a care home. I am all for women’s rights and peaceful protests, but not when it breaks the law and endangers health.
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