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

Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence Jess Phillips says Metropolitan Police ‘got it wrong at every single turn” in their response to the vigil held for Sarah Everard yesterday.

“I think that the police got it wrong at every single turn - not just the final image that we see but all day yesterday and the day before, the police did not try and find a way for a peaceful protest, not a protest, actually, a vigil,” she said.

Watch Ms Phillips’ full comments below:

Hundreds of women and allies attended the vigil held for Sarah Everard yesterday in Clapham Common, with many telling The Independent’s Women’s Correspondent Maya Oppenheim why they felt it was vital to be there.

Myrna Williamson, a 74-year-old who lives in the area, told The Independent: “Ever since I heard what happened to Sarah, I’ve been crying. I’m part of the Women’s Institute and women in the WI have also been crying.

“I walk around the whole time here for my exercise. I leave for work really early and go home really late at night as I work as a film extra so I do long shoots. I feel anxious walking around the streets as an old person. I can’t run or defend myself,” she said.

Meanwhile, Hannah Smith, 19, criticised the Met Police’s efforts to shut the event down over Covid-19 concerns, saying: “I’m more likely to be killed by a man than Covid. An average of two women are killed by a former or current partner a week in the UK.”

“As someone who experienced sexual assault and sexual harassment, who am I supposed to talk to? It does not feel like the police will take it seriously,” she said.

Read more from Maya on why demonstrators felt it was important to be at the vigil, despite efforts from Met Police to shut the event down:

Labour will vote against the government’s new policing bill, David Lammy has announced.

Asserting that the measure seeks to impose “disproportionate controls” on the right to protest, Mr Lammy said: “This is no time to be rushing through poorly thought-out measures to impose disproportionate controls on free expression and the right to protest”.

The announcement comes as MPs prepare to debate the government’s bill, which contains new powers for officers and for the home secretary to impose conditions on protests and public processions.

Political correspondent Ashley Cowburn has the full story:

Labour MP Jack Dromey has condemned the Met Police’s response to Saturday’s vigil for Sarah Everard as “utterly shameful”.

“The policing of the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard was utterly shameful,” Mr Dromey said in a tweet.

He also took aim at the government’s new policing bill, criticising “the Government’s proposal for harsher penalties for damaging a statue than attacking a woman”.

Londoners are continuing to make their way to Clapham Common to pay their respects to Sarah Everard.

Fresh flowers were laid at a bandstand in the park, where just hours before clashes between police officers and demonstrators hadunfolded after officers cracked down on a vigil held in Everard’s memory, citing Covid-19 concerns.

Police officers were seen forcibly removing vigil attendees from the bandstand, with demonstrators being pushed and forced to the ground.

Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has faced widespread calls to resign over the incident, which many say could have been avoided had police allowed a socially distanced outdoor vigil to move forward.

West Midlands Police have said they had a"low-key" presence at vigils held in Sarah Everard’s memory in Coventry and Birmingham on Saturday in an effort to "balance the desire for people to express their feelings" against the risk of the spread of Covid-19.

In a statement published on Sunday, the police force said officers were present at the vigils to "explain, engage and encourage and only use enforcement as a last resort".

"We did not have to take any enforcement action last night," the department said.

"We understand the strength of feeling and people’s desire to come together to mourn and show respect to Sarah Everard as well as to make a statement and organiser on the issue of women’s safety," it said. "We will continue to balance the desire for people to express their feelings against the very real risks of the spread of this deadly virus."

The statement suggests a different approach than the one Met Police officers took at the vigil in Clapham Common on Saturday, with officers seen forcibly removing protesters from the event and multiple protesters being detained.

Multiple protests have been organised to take place outside Scotland Yard today to demonstrate against the Met Police’s response to a vigil held for Sarah Everard yesterday and to rally against the government’s new policing bill.

In a tweet, feminist organisation Sisters Uncut called on supporters to gather outside Scotland Yard at 4pm on Sunday to protest the government’s new bill, which includes new powers for officers and for the home secretary to impose conditions on protests and public processions.

Sisters Uncut, coordinated yesterday’s vigil in Clapham Common after plans for another vigil in the park were dashed following threats of fines from police.

“Police are perpetrators of individual and state violence against women - as evidenced last night,” Sisters Uncut said in a tweet. “The police abuse the powers they already have, yet the government plans to give them even more powers in the #PoliceCrackdownBill.”

“We must resist this. 4pm. New Scotland Yard,” the group said.

Another demonstration had also been planned, with organisers behind the ‘Reclaim the Fight’ initiative calling on demonstrators to gather in Trafalgar Square at 6pm and then join a march to Scotland Yard.

Some commenters have said they plan to attend both demonstrations.

Patsy Stevenson, who was pictured being handcuffed by police on the ground during last night’s vigil for Sarah Everard in Clapham Common , has said she would like to “have a conversation” with Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick.

Ms Stevenson told LBC on Sunday that she was still unsure of why she had been detained and that she is considering whether to challenge the £200 fine she received.

She said she would like to be able to “have a conversation” with Ms Dick, who is facing calls to resign over the officers’ response to the vigil.

“I would like to sit down with her and have a conversation. I think dialogue is very important in this case,” she said.

“We were there to remember Sarah, we all felt deeply saddened and still do that it happened so I brought a candle with me but unfortunately wasn’t even able to light it to put it down because the police turned up and barged their way through,” she said.

Despite receiving the fine on Saturday, Ms Stevenson said that she would be attending a demonstration in Parliament Square on Monday afternoon.

“I think the main point of this... is that women don’t feel safe, and they don’t feel safe walking down a street. And that’s the bare minimum we should feel the freedom to do, and I think it’s appalling that it’s gone on for this long,” she said.

The murder Sarah Everard has prompted a “tidal wave” of calls from women and allies across the country to no longer accept male violence against women and nonbinary people.

Jamie Klingler, one of the organisers behind the Reclaim These Streets vigil that had originally been organised to take place in Clapham Common, but was canceled due to threats of fines from police, told the Press Association that it was “hard to watch from afar” as police cracked down on an impromptu vigil that still went ahead at the park.

“I think we were shocked and really, really sad and to see videos of policemen handling women at a vigil about violence against women by men. I think it was painful and pretty triggering to see,” she said on Sunday.

“The fact that nobody stepped in and said: ‘Do you see how this looks?’ The fact that Thursday and Friday they wasted our organising time by dragging us to the High Court for our human rights to protest and we were going to have a silent vigil,” she said.

“Especially today, it’s Mother’s Day. It’s the week of International Women’s Day. And instead of allowing and facilitating it like the Lambeth police wanted to - and that police force was so supportive - Scotland Yard quashed us and in doing so silenced us and got the reaction they got last night.”

“We had a PA system, we had one steward for every 30 people that was going to attend, we’ve had all of those things in place, so that there would not have been any crowding, so that there would not have been any issues,” she said.

Still, Ms Klingler said she was “blown away” by the “tidal wave” of support a campaign to raise £320,000 had received from the public.

The group had set up the campaign to raise the amount they say they would have received in fines had planned vigils gone ahead.

That target was reached in hours, with nearly £500,000 raised by Sunday.

“This is the start of the movement,” she said.

“I don’t know how exactly to explain what it feels like to be at the centre of a tidal wave,” she continued. “But it feels like a tidal wave of half of the population saying: ‘This is your problem, you need to fix it and you need to fix it now - we’re not taking it any more’.”

Reclaim These Streets organiser Jamie Klingler has admonished the Met Police over their defence of officers’ actions at Saturday night’s vigil for Sarah Everard.

After Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball claimed that officers were forced into a position “where enforcement action was necessary”, Ms Klingler said she could not agree.

Speaking with the Press Association, Ms Klingler said the vigil would have been carried out safely if it had been allowed to go ahead as planned. Instead, the Reclaim These Streets event was called off due to threats of fines from police, with attendees still choosing to gather in Clapham Common following its cancellation.

“I think we were shocked and really, really sad and to see videos of policemen handling women at a vigil about violence against women by men. I think it was painful and pretty triggering to see,” she said.

Then, she said, to hear that Ms Ball had said that part of the reason police moved in on vigil attendees was because they saw them crowding together to hear speakers better, was also disturbing.

“We had a PA system, we had one steward for every 30 people that was going to attend, we’ve had all of those things in place, so that there would not have been any crowding, so that there would not have been any issues,” she said. “The problem came with then cancelling the infrastructure and the management of that crowd”.