Proposed vigil for Sarah Everard, your views?

Quite agree Katek.

I agree Katek. Is there any evidence that the family supported this ‘vigil’. This was an illegal gathering and we are only hearing one side of the story that of the protesters. If they had any respect for the family they would have waited until gatherings are allowed. This was political and meant to stir up trouble with the Police.

Other vigils around the country were handled much more sensitively.

And yes I absolutely agree that this was a public health issue and not a public order issue, but the way the police dealt with this public health issue on Clapham Common was both crass and to say the least unfortunate.

These laws need much more careful scrutiny by parliament and in my opinion were/are rushed through without due process resulting in the police being unable to distinguish between the issues and thus dealing with it in the wrong way.

I look forward to these laws being repealed soon, when the covid threat diminishes.

Many people, including the Police have hugely underestimated the very strong feelings of these women. There is a lot of hurt, sadness and worry about what happened to Sarah and what happens to young women daily. A peaceful vigil should have been allowed.

Well said Katek.

And I really don’t care atm about what the Met did/didn’t do- the ‘event’ shouldn’t have been happening in the first place.

What a horrific media circus around this most dreadful and shocking event. The time for vigils, protests and ‘statements’ is not now, Sarah has not even been buried, her family must be in the darkest of places, yet a number of very vociferous individuals seem to feel it’s acceptable to hijack her death to make a point. Sarah belongs to her family, it is their grief and welfare that are paramount. Yes, grieve if you must, light a candle, whatever, but do it in your own home and do not add any further distress ;if that’s indeed possible) to this shocked family. It’s an old fashioned word but this behaviour is totally unseemly. Where is the respect?

I would rather the vigil hadn’t taken place, I would rather the football fans hadn’t congregated or the BLM protest marches hadn’t happened all were against Covid regulations.

They have all taken place, I just think that in the instance of the Vigil yesterday the Police handling of the situation was totally wrong, having seen more footage on various news outlets my mind has not changed.

The Home Secretary has asked what orders were given and by whom, hopefully the Met will be transparent in their answers.

Maggiemaybe

Thanks for posting the article, Baggs. I have been thinking of Sarah Everard’s family and friends this week and imagining how they must have felt about the publicity around their personal tragedy.

Ditto. the organisers of the Vigil called it off and asked for people to light a candle. I can't helping thinking it's a pity that this request was not followed.

I feel for Cressida Dick and others in the Met making this correct decision when one of their officers is charged with murder.

Really??

maisieD It was picked up by me from Twitter, does that suit you better?

NfkDumpling

The photo this morning showed a crowd gathered closely packed together which a year ago would have been perfectly acceptable - but at this time, the law is that it's illegal. At this time, with Covid restrictions in place, they were breaking the law. And did the police come in straight away heavy handed? . Did the crowd object and refuse to disperse when asked? Was it still a memorial or had it turned into a more political protest meeting?

A week ago, in Great Yarmouth, over a hundred people (mostly teenagers) gathered on the sea front in memory of a lad who'd died there on his motor bike. They played his favourite music. Then played it loudly and started to dance. Late into the night. In his memory. The local residents complained. The gathering was broken up by the police as they said it had turned into a rave. Should they have let it continue and face the prospect of future gatherings/parties with loud music being memorials? It was perfectly reasonable that teenagers would want rave music at a memorial.

The police have a very difficult job at the moment and I think the organises were right to have cancelled the planned vigil. Putting a light at the door was far more appropriate and a lovely gesture. The time for memorials is later when Covid is under control and the restrictions have been lifted.

I completely agree Nfk this vigil/protest like all others should never have taken place.
I think only four women were arrested at the scene, and we don’t know what they did/ said that warranted being arrested as yet.Women can be as foul mouthed as men btw.
What baggs posted from the friend of the murder victim certainly chimes with what I and many on this thread think, that her tragic death was hijacked yesterday.
We are still in a pandemic and a lighted candle in a window or doorstep was a better gesture all round.

MaizieD

lemsip

Read this.
www.spiked-online.com/2021/03/13/this-is-not-what-sarah-would-have-wanted/

Sorry, but I'm very suspicious of the integrity of anything that comes from Spiked-online.

Sarah's 'friend' would have done better to go to the Guardian or the Independent, or even the Financial Times or the Times. Spiked has such a very niche audience...

Without readng the article, this just shows orejudice.

SW Oh it's not fake outrage, far from it. Depsite how comfortable that assumption might make you. I wont go into a statistical analysis of your vocabulary because much of what you say isn't sufficiently interesting enough to warrant taking the trouble. Usually because it's all about you being right, rather than the issues at hand. I do that too sometimes, it can be fun to a argue the toss, but not by justifying it with the murder of a woman whose body was described as human remains and whose identity was confirmed via dental records. Given the time frame, just take a moment to contemplate what might have been done to her to lead to that point - then explain why my outrage is fake, and you feel that level of brutality is something you feel able to exploit for a different cause. But don't explain it to me, I'm no longer interested in hearing what you have to say on this subject- explain it to yourself.

If they really wanted them to move and had been told to disperse the crowd, they should have found a non hands on way.

Perhaps you would like to demonstrate one?
Water cannons?

Why are football fans allowed to gather "for sport" and there's no restriction on their closeness, despite covid? The police don't seem to have an issue with this.

Oh wait, the government said it could happen. So, no covid worries there then.

lemsip

Read this.
www.spiked-online.com/2021/03/13/this-is-not-what-sarah-would-have-wanted/

Sorry, but I'm very suspicious of the integrity of anything that comes from Spiked-online.

Sarah's 'friend' would have done better to go to the Guardian or the Independent, or even the Financial Times or the Times. Spiked has such a very niche audience...

Hypocritical of this government (and whoever instructed the police to use physical force) What were they thinking?!

I suspect that our 'han' 'em and flog 'em' Home Secretary had a hand in this. If she didn't she will undoubtedly back up Cressida Dick and be rubbing her hands with glee at the thought that her Policing bill, due to be rushed through Parliament tomorrow, will put a stop to any of this gathering together to protest nonsense...

Thank you lemsip for posting this from one of Sarah’s friends.

Comment from David Allen Green. Lawyer and highly respected commenter:

... police brutality – and their other abuses of coercive power – should always be shocking.

Once it ceases to shock then the authoritarians and illiberals will have prevailed.

During this pandemic this tendency for the police to misuse and abuse their powers has had a further feature.

The coronavirus regulations – which restrict freedom of movement and assembly as well as other fundamental rights and freedoms – are public health measures.

But they have been enforced by the police as if they were in respect of public order.

Public health is not the same as public order.

The scenes from last night did not evidence any sincere concern for public health from the police.

Indeed – a responsible and socially distanced protest was entirely possible (and warranted) – but the police turned it into something else instead.

Full blog post here:

davidallengreen.com/2021/03/the-ugly-scenes-from-the-clapham-common-protest-tell-us-about-wider-policing-problems-and-how-policing-the-coronavirus-regulations-is-being-treated-as-a-public-order-matter-instead-of-a-public-healt/

twitter.com/i/status/1371017601581776898

This is how police treated football fans literally days ago! Why are football fans gathering illegally in the middle of a pandemic treated with more respect that women voicing their right not to be assaulted or murdered!

Something tells me this is NOT about covid

It's true, we don't know the full story yet. I feel very sorry for Sarah's family and friends who are feeling that her death has been politicised.

Hypocritical of this government (and whoever instructed the police to use physical force) What were they thinking?!

To the police and the government: If it "shouldn't happen" because of covid then WHY put yourself all over those women? What happened to protecting YOURSELVES from covid?

Great they decide to exercise their freedom to gather despite the covid regulations, just so the rest of us can lose our freedom by being slammed back into lockdown when cases surge again as a consequence.

What happened to Sarah was truly horrific but we really don’t know the full extent. She was kidnapped first before being transported and murdered and her body dumped and had to be identified by dental records. He was a firearms officer so did he have a gun to threaten her with or sheer brute force? It doesn’t bear thinking about what she suffered. Lighting a candle for her is right as that is specifically for her. Lots are jumping on the domestic violence band wagon. That is not a bad thing generally but let it not detract from a terrible murder. There will be lots more to come out. Only then can Sarah r.I.p..

Thats so sad and so relatable.

Unfortunately, the police were just doing what they'd been told to do because permission was not granted. I do think however that the police could have laid flowers and shown respect. I think it particularly hypocritical to lay hands on those women during a pandemic, if the pandemic itself is the reason why the occasion shouldn't happen.

If they really wanted them to move and had been told to disperse the crowd, they should have found a non hands on way. Otherwise the reason that it's because of covid, doesn't stand. How many women were touched and handled and how many officers potentially put at risk for this??

Gatherings of more than thirty people were illegal last year, under Coronavirus legislation. My son, a barrister, who read all the legislation, told me this. No gatherings above thirty people. I couldn’t let the claim that that the BAME demonstrations were perfectly legal last year go unchecked. It was illegal.