The UK government is calling for an investigation after police collided with mourners on Saturday night during a vigil held in memory of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman who went missing earlier this month and was reportedly murdered by a police officer from the same police. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said on Sunday that she is “more determined” than ever to lead the organization, saying she is not considering stepping down.
London mayor Sadiq Khan and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel both called for an independent investigation on Sunday into how the city’s main police force stopped the vigil over coronavirus restrictions.
Patel said that “some images circulating online of the Clapham vigil are disturbing” and said she had asked the Metropolitan Police for a “full report on what happened” during the vigil.
Patel added that she will ask the police watchdog, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, a government body that assesses police forces, to investigate the matter, according to BBC News.
In a statement, Khan echoed her call, saying that “scenes resulting from the surveillance of the vigil were completely unacceptable.” He added that he had spoken with the City Hall Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner on Sunday to explain to them what had happened, saying he was “not satisfied with the explanation they gave.”
Khan said he had also asked the Police Inspectorate to conduct a full investigation into what had happened, as well as asking the Independent Police Behavior Bureau to investigate officers’ actions during the vigil.
Dick, the Metropolitan Police’s first female commissioner, said she agreed with the need for a “sober assessment” and defended how officers responded to the “really big crowd,” reported BBC News.
Everard, a marketing manager, was last seen on March 3 walking home from a friend’s house in South London. She was found dead a week later and police confirmed that Wayne Couzens, an elite officer in the London Metropolitan Police’s diplomatic protection force, had been charged with kidnapping and murder.
The official vigil scheduled at Clapham Common – near where Everard was last seen alive – was called off earlier on Saturday after a judge ruled “attending a large meeting might be illegal” due to coronavirus guidelines.
Mourners were encouraged to light candles in Everard’s home, and some came to pay their respects in Clapham Common during the day in tribute to Everard’s life, including Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, who Sky News reported made an unofficial visit.
Yet by Saturday night several hundred mourners had gathered. Women from all walks of life took part in the event and turned into a demonstration as an act of solidarity demanding security from male violence.
Police officers on the ground encouraged those in attendance to leave, and the vast majority of people quickly did so, according to Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball.
“Unfortunately, a small minority of people started singing to cops, pushing and throwing things,” she said.
The vigil led to four arrests police said were for public order violations and health regulations.
The officers’ tactics have since been questioned and criticized by activists and lawmakers across the political spectrum videos and images of women being pinned and forcibly removed went viral online.
Referring to the police officer charged with the murder of Everard, those present shouted, “Arrest your own!” “Police, go home!”
In a statement Sunday morning, Ball said that agents on the ground “absolutely did not want to be in a position where enforcement action was needed,” but were “placed in this position because of the imperative need to protect people’s safety … pandemic is not yet in place. past and gatherings of people from all over London and beyond are still not safe, “adding” We accept that the actions of our officers have been questioned. “
Khan said he had received “assurances” from the Met last week that the vigil would be “sensitively monitored.”
“In my opinion this was not the case.” Khan said.
Many, including the leaders of the Liberal Democrat Party, have called on Dick resign of her post on the conduct of her officers. Dick called it “devilishly difficult police work” and said she did not think “anyone who was not at the operation could actually comment in detail on its correctness and inaccuracy.”
In a video posted in Twitter, Patsy Stevenson, the woman who was pinned down by agents, urged the public to take the story away from the police and back to what happened to Everard, calling on the public to show their support at the London’s Parliament Square on Mondays.
HANNAH MCKAY / REUTERS
Everard’s death sparked a national outburst of anger and sparked a national debate in Britain about the safety and sexual assault of women.
“I am shocked and dismayed at the Met news of Sarah Everard, and I think the whole country will be united in that feeling for her friends, her family, and we will share their shock and grief,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. “Every woman should be able to walk our streets in safety.”