Sarah Everard vigil: Cressida Dick says she will not resign amid growing anger over police actions

Cressida Dick must “explain” the police response to the vigil for Sarah Everard last night a Home Office minister has insisted.

It comes after Home Secretary Priti Patel demanded a full report from the Met police on the handling of the vigil.

Political Correspondent Ashley Cowburn has more:

If Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick is replaced over her department’s response to last night’s vigil, it must be with someone with less ‘heavy-handed’ approach, Hackney MP Diane Abbott has said.

Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Ms Abbott said: “We would hope that if she goes, that she’s actually replaced with somebody better... Someone who doesn’t deny that institutional racism exists int he police force and someone with a much less heavy-handed approach.”

Hackney MP Diane Abbott has condemned the “appalling” scenes of clashes between Met police officers and women attending a peaceful vigil for Sarah Everard.

Sharing video of the clashes in a tweet on Sunday morning, Ms Abbott wrote: “Appalling scenes at Clapham Common last night. Women at a peaceful vigil about male violence being violently manhandled and hand cuffed by police officers.”

The Hackney MP shared the #ReclaimTheseStreets hashtag that was used in support of the vigil and to call for an end to sexual harassment and violence against women in the wake of Everard’s death.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday safeguarding minister Victoria Atkins appeared to avoid responding directly on whether there is a toxic culture within the Met police force. However, she acknowledged that there are issues in policing that need to be addressed.

Asked to comment on a scandal last year that saw officers take pictures with the bodies of two sisters, Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, after they were found slain in a park, Ms Atkins said the incident was “utterly abhorrent”.

She further said that  Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick had also been “as appalled” as many others.

Overall, she said, however, that she believed “there is good work going on in policing”.

She said that she believed that new measures, including those being introduced through the Domestic Abuse Bill, would “really improve the reaction”.

As the Met police face heightened scrutiny not only over one of their own officers being charged in the Sarah Everard case, but also over the department’s response to a vigil organised in her memory, another case from last year has also come back under the spotlight: that of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry.

Last year, two Met police constables were arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office after being accused of taking inappropriate photos with the bodies of Smallman and Henry, two sisters who were found slain in a park.

In recent days, the case has risen to the fore as another example of a toxic culture that many say exists within the Met police force and within police departments across the country and around the world.

You can read more on the case here:

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, safeguarding minister Victoria Atkins refused to give a “yes or no” answer to the question of whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet needs more women in senior positions.

“I think the prime minister is very committed to ensuring that his government represents society,” Ms Atkins said. “I think if we look at the government as a whole, we have a 50-50 split.”

Pushed to give a “yes or no” response, Ms Atkins did not do so.

Instead, she said “what I am very mindful of as a junior minister is that I am listened to and I have the privilege of working on, I think, one of the most important briefs in government and that’s not because I’m female. That’s because the prime minister has appointed me”.

Organisers are planning a march on Sunday that will lead demonstrators to the Met police station, where a sit-in is expected to be held.

According to social media posts, a “Reclaim the Fight” march will be held following outrage over the police force’s response to the Sarah Everard vigil in Clapham Common on Saturday.

Demonstrators are expected to meet in Trafalgar Square at 6pm. They will then make their way to Downing Street and the Met police station, where they will “sit together in solidarity and observe social distancing”.

Attendees have been asked to wear face masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and to dress in black or white.

“We will be seen. We will be heard,” organisers wrote in a social media post.

Met Police Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball defended officers’ response to the vigil in Clapham Common yesterday, asserting that officers had been faced with a “very difficult decision”.

“I recognise that the decision by the organisers to cancel the Reclaim These Streets vigil in Clapham Common was deeply unwelcome news. Even so, given the ever present threat of Coronavirus, this was the right decision to make,” the assistant commissioner said in a statement on Saturday, referring to organisers cancelling a formal vigil after police vowed to crack down on the event and issue fines to organisers and attendees.

“Today, for over six hours hundreds of people came to lay flowers and pay their respects to Sarah in Clapham Common in a safe and lawful way,” Ms Ball said.

“Around 6pm, more people began to gather close to the bandstand within the Common. Some started to make speeches from the bandstand. These speeches then attracted more people to gather closer together,” she continued. “At this point, officers on the ground were faced with a very difficult decision. Hundreds of people were packed tightly together, posing a very real risk of easily transmitting Covid-19.”

“Police must act for people’s safety, this is the only responsible thing to do. The pandemic is not over and gatherings of people from right across London and beyond, are still not safe,” she said.

“Those who gathered were spoken to by officers on a number of occasions and over an extended period of time. We repeatedly encouraged those who were there to comply with the law and leave. Regrettably, a small minority of people began chanting at officers, pushing and throwing items,” Ms Ball said, adding: “After speaking with officers, the vast majority of people quickly left.”

The assistant commissioner said four arrests had been made for public order offences and for breaches of the Health Protection Regulations”.

Images and video from the event show police forcibly removing demonstrators from a bandstand in Clapham Common, in addition to pushing demonstrators standing in the park and holding protesters down on the ground.

“Part of the reason I am speaking to you tonight is because we accept that the actions of our officers have been questioned,” Ms Ball said.

“We absolutely did not want to be in a position where enforcement action was necessary. But we were placed in this position because of the overriding need to protect people’s safety,” she asserted, adding: “Let me end by saying that across the Met, we review every single event that we police to see if there are lessons that can be learnt. This one will be no different.”

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called for Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to resign from her role after having “lost the confidence of women in London”.

Addressing the police response to the vigil held for Sarah Everard in Clapham Common last night, Mr Davey said: “It’s already crystal clear that what happened last night was a complete tactical and moral failure by the Met police.”

“Cressida Dick has lost the confidence of women in London and she must now resign,” he said, responding to comments from Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins made on The Andrew Marr Show this morning.

Demonstrators “deserved the opportunity to collectively grieve in a peaceful open air vigil,” he said.

“Yet from start to finish the Met Police got this wrong. They refused to cooperate with organisers trying to put on a Covid-safe event. Then used inappropriate and disproportionate force against women standing peacefully in a park,” he said.

Reform UK, the rebranded Brexit party, has called joined calls for Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to resign immediately following “the disgraceful arrest scenes at the peaceful vigil for Sarah Everard”.

In a statement, Richard Tice, who recently replaced Nigel Farage as the party’s leader, demanded that London Mayor Sadiq Khan fire Ms Dick if she refuses to step down.

“There really is only one action Cressida Dick can take – that is to step down immediately. If she does not, Sadiq Khan needs to sack her without hesitation,” Mr Tice said.

“Londoners have lost any confidence they had in Cressida Dick’s leadership of the Metropolitan Police following its handling of the Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion protests,” he continued.

“Last night’s scenes in Clapham Common were disgraceful and leave a stain on the Met Police. Other police forces around the country enabled dignified vigils to take place by working closely with organisers,” he said.

Noting the chaotic scenes from the vigil, which saw police forcibly pull protesters from a bandstand in Clapham Common and push demonstrators, Mr Tice said that “under Cressida Dick’s leadership the Met Police got this badly wrong”.

“The police’s handling of a peaceful gathering by women wishing to remember Sarah Everard and protest over the safety of women on the streets of London just defies belief,” he said.

Referring to protests that unfolded last year in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the Reform UK leader said: “It was abhorrent behaviour by a police force which we must remember has stood idly by in the face of war monuments being vandalized and taken the knee with Black Lives Matter protestors.”

“The vigil for Sarah Everard should have been allowed to progress without intervention. What were the frontline officers thinking? It signals a complete catastrophic failure in leadership and a disconnect with real world under Cressida Dick’s watch,” he said.