Sarah Everard vigil: Arrests as protesters march through central London

A new protest bill that demonstrators rallied against yesterday during a vigil held outside Scotland Yard and in Parliament Square will deepen racial inequality, campaigners have warned the prime minister.

In a letter to Boris Johnson, a coalition of criminal justice and race equality organisations urged the PM to reconsider a number of proposals included in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

Nadine White, The Independent’s Race Correspondent has the story:

Priti Patel is to blame for the police crackdown on the Sarah Everard vigil because of her “brutal” ban on all protests, an ex-Supreme Court Judge has said.

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Police in Wales have received praise for responding to vigils held for Sarah Everard over the weekend in a “sensitive way”.

Welsh education minister Kirsty Williams praised police during a press conference in Cardiff, according to PA.

Commenting on the chaotic scenes that unfolded in London’s Clapham Common at a vigil on Saturday, Ms Williams said: “I don’t think anybody that watched those scenes can’t have been shocked by what they saw.”

“Can I say how grateful I am to women and men in Wales who over this weekend also carried out vigils to mark the death of Sarah and the wider issues that that death makes us confront as a society, and the police that oversaw those gatherings in a really respectful way,” she said.

“We have to remember we’re still in the middle of a pandemic and we need people to be cognizant of that,” she said. However, the education minister said: “I would commend both those that wanted to have their voices heard this weekend in Wales, and the police for the sensitive way that that was handled.”

A new report from a higher education association in Dublin, Ireland, has called for a common approach to preventing and addressing sexual harassment and violence in higher education institutions.

Published by the Technological Higher Education Association (THEA), the Promoting Consent and Preventing Sexual Violence report says that investigations into sexual violence complaints in third-level institutions must be “independent, trauma-informed and fair to all parties”.

It urges the development of general guidance for all institutions that would lay out categories of offences and the appropriate responses across institutions.

“A common approach aids progress,” the report states. “...each institution has a unique mission, context, and community. Therefore, no two institutions’ Action Plans will be identical. Ideally, every institution should have a standalone policy to respond to Sexual Misconduct. These policies may not be identical; however, broad similarities will be advantageous insofar as possible, as students and staff will often engage with, or move between, more than one institution in the sector.”

“While allowing for institutional differences, it is important to ensure that a common standard is met; this will also have practical benefits, avoiding duplication of effort,” it adds.

On Monday, Dublin Lord Mayor Hazel Chu called on government leaders in Ireland to support the report’s findings and provide the necessary resources to see such a common approach enforced.

“If we’re still having this conversation now, and we’re still going to have this conversation next year, then it’s not good enough,” she said, according to the Press Association. “It’s simply not good enough.”

“Last week, we started off the week by celebrating International Women’s Day. Then by the Wednesday, we saw the case, internationally, of how women yet again did not feel safe.

“Sarah Everard, I think what happened with that particular case was it resonated with so many people.

“One in four women may experience sexual violence at some point.

“I can tell you that unless we are willing to address that this is an ongoing problem, and not just a sporadic problem, then these things will never change.”

Ms Chu said that while “on one hand, I am heartbroken that we are again having this discussion,” she was “glad that it is placing on the table”.

Number 10 has said it cannot expand on what Home Secretary Priti Patel meant when she said there will still questions to be answered over the Met Police’s response to the Sarah Everard vigil in Clapham Common on Saturday.

Asked what Ms Patel had meant, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said: “As you’ve seen and as we’ve said, both the Met and the inspectorate are reviewing how this was handled, so I won’t comment further while it is ongoing.”

“You’ve got what the Home Secretary said yesterday,” he said, according to the Press Association.

The spokesperson added that the government has been working “closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing to make sure the right guidance is in place and that police officers know what the rules are and how to enforce them.

“Police have engaged members of the public throughout, they’ve explained the rules, encouraged them to follow the rules and enforced them if needed.”

Daisy Cooper MP has amplified her party’s calls for Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to resign, saying the police chief’s response to outrage over her force’s handling of Saturday’ vigil for Sarah Everard has been “appalling”.

Noting the dramatic scenes from the vigil that showed police officers forcibly removing attendees from a bandstand and pushing some to the ground, Ms Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “Those scenes were disgusting. Cressida Dick needs to take responsibility for that”.

So far, Ms Cooper said, Ms Dick’s response to widespread criticisms over the Met Police’s handling of th event “has been appalling”.

“She has refused to apologise and says she wants to see the Met force come back stronger”.

“This is at a point when women have been consumed by grief and anger for a week now about women’s safety and I don’t believe the Met commissioner is taking it seriously and she’s making matters worse,” Ms Cooper said.

Ms Dick is expected to join Prime Minister Boris Johnson and others for a meeting later today to discuss how to better prevent sexual harassment and violence against women.

The Met commissioner has rejected calls for her resignation, asserting that she is only more determined to lead her organisation following Saturday’s events.

Hundreds of organisations have signed onto a letter condemning the Government’s new policing bill and urged MPs to block what they warn is a “crackdown on civil liberties”.

Coordinated by Liberty and Friends of the Earth and addressed to the home secretary and justice secretary, the letter sent today said the government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill has been a cause for “profound concern” for the letter’s 245 signatories.

With Parliament set to debate the bill today, the organisations said the new “draconian” police powers included with the bill, as well as how it “criminalises the way of life of nomadic Gypsy and Traveller communities” made the bill unacceptable.

“[T]his Bill represents an attack on some of the most fundamental rights of citizens, in particular those from marginalised communities, and is being driven through at a time and in a way where those who will be subject to its provisions are least able to respond,” the letter states.

In a statement, Gracie Bradley, Liberty’s Interim Director, said: “Protest isn’t a gift from the State – it’s our fundamental right and under human rights law, States have an obligation to facilitate protest not suppress it. Yet this is what this Bill seeks to achieve.”

“Not content with all but banning protest during the pandemic, the Government is now using this public health crisis as cover to make emergency measures permanent. Its new policing Bill is an all-out assault on basic civil liberties,” Ms Bradley said.

“The dangerous policing of the Sarah Everard vigil follows a growing crackdown on protest throughout this pandemic, including the issuing of exorbitant fines to protest organisers in the summer, the aggressive kettling of Black Lives Matter protesters during a pandemic and the suppression of a two-person protest about the appalling and inhumane conditions at Napier Barracks. The prospect of giving police even more power to control and limit our right to protest is incredibly dangerous,” she said.

“We cannot allow these powers to pass. We must stand up for our right to live our lives free from undue state interference and our right to free expression. Now is the time for us to come together to stand up to this aggressive and egregious power grab.”

Priti Patel is now addressing MPs on the Sarah Everard case and on Met Police’s handling of a vigil on Saturday in her memory.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has said that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has “welcomed” questions on the events that unfolded during Saturday’s vigil for Sarah Everard.

Ms Patel has requested a report on the events that unfolded on Saturday.

She said she would provide an update on its findings “in due course”.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has said that understands the grief and anger that Sarah Everard’s death has prompted.

Addressing MPs on Monday, Ms Patel said she wanted to “acknowledge why Sarah’s death has upset so many”.

She said her “heartache and that of others” could be summed up in five words: “She was just walking home”.

“While the specific circumstances of Sarah’s disappearance are thankfully uncommon,” she said women were reminded of the “steps that we take each day without a second thought to keep ourselves safe”.

“It has rightfully ignited anger at the dangers posed to women,” she said.