Patel jumps to defence of police
Minister tells MPs of her ‘heartache’ for Sarah’s family after ugly scenes at vigil
HOME Secretary Priti Patel has maintained that she “backs our police” after ugly scenes erupted at a vigil to remember Sarah Everard, as Ms Patel spoke of her “heartache” for the murdered woman’s family.
Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday following calls for Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to resign, Ms Patel said she had asked for a full report on the policing of the event.
But after officers clashed with crowds gathered on Clapham Common, in London, the force has been accused of getting “the balance between public safety and the right to protest completely wrong”.
“I have already said that some of the footage circulating online of Clapham Common is upsetting,” Ms Patel said yesterday. “So whilst the police are rightfully operationally independent, I asked the Metropolitan Police for a report into what had happened.
“This Government backs our police in fighting crime and keeping the public safe, but in the interest of providing greater assurance and ensuring public confidence, I have asked Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to conduct a full, independent lessons learned review.”
And she added: “My heartache and that of others can be summed up in just five words – she was just walking home.”
Hundreds of people gathered in Parliament Square again last night to pay tribute to 33-year-old Miss Everard, who was originally from York. People at the vigil held banners and chanted as dozens of police officers watched on.
But Ms Patel urged people not to participate in large gatherings while Covid-19 regulations remain in place.
She told MPs: “Over the past year during the coronavirus pandemic, the police have been faced with an unenviable and immediately difficult task. It is one for the most part that they have approached with skill and professionalism, helping to enforce regulations as determined by Parliament with one crucial objective in mind – to save lives.”
Asked if police had been “just enforcing Covid rules”, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The reality is that the country is united still in shock and grief about what happened to Sarah Everard and we must do everything we can to find the answers.
“I think the fundamental issue that we have to address as a country, and as a society and as a government is that… women in particular must feel that when they make serious complaints about violence, about assault, that they are properly heard.”
Yorkshire’s police forces said vigils in the region at the weekend passed without incident.
North Yorkshire Police Federation chairman Rob Knowles said forces have the difficult task of balancing the rights of individuals to pay respects with the need to protect the public. He added that he believed officers had become the “pawns of a political situation”.
South Yorkshire Police Federation chairman Steve Kent said he has frequently warned police would end up being “blamed and lambasted” for policing the lockdown too leniently or too harshly.
The police have faced an unenviable and difficult task. Home Secretary Priti Patel.
A SENIOR Conservative MP has urged Home Secretary Priti Patel to “decriminalise freedom of protest” within hours as it was claimed “rushed” legislation could pose a threat to free speech rights and make the job of officers policing demonstrations harder.
As part of efforts to overhaul the justice system, the Government is proposing a raft of measures in its Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which was debated in the House of Commons last night.
It includes plans to give police more powers to tackle non-violent protests which cause significant disruption to the public or on access to Parliament. The proposed law includes an offence of “intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance”.
According to the Bill, someone commits this crime if they cause “serious harm to the public”, which can include “serious annoyance, serious inconvenience or serious loss of amenity”. The plans could also see police given powers to impose conditions on static protests, like time and noise limits, and extend the rules to one-person demonstrations.
But in light of clashes between police and those attending a vigil for marketing executive Sarah Everard, who grew up in York and went missing while walking home from a friend’s flat on March 3, Labour has said it would vote against the Bill.
Sir Charles Walker, Conservative MP for Broxbourne, suggested MPs were “up to our eyeballs” in the events which took place at a Clapham Common vigil, given their support for tough Covid-19 restrictions.
He said: “This House criminalised the freedom of protest, this House, us. Not Dame Cressida, not the Metropolitan Police, we did.
“We criminalised the freedom to protest collectively. We are up to our eyeballs in this. Does [Ms Patel] agree with me that now is the time to decriminalise freedom of protest, not tomorrow, not next week, but this afternoon, this evening?
“Let’s get people back on the streets, let’s allow people to get things off their chest again. Protest is a safety valve.”
Ms Patel, inset, responded: “I understand entirely the sentiment that (Sir Charles) has emphasised and echoed this afternoon. The Prime Minister has laid out a road map and I appreciate that (Sir Charles) would love me to say right now let’s just do this and change things immediately. There is a road map that has been laid out, we are still in a pandemic and we are following the guidance that has been put in place.”
Conservative MP Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, urged the Government to ensure that the right of peaceful protest is protected under new legislation.
Organisations including the RSPB, Liberty and Friends of the Earth have raised concerns about the “draconian” legislation.