Proposed vigil for Sarah Everard, your views?

Whilst I agree that the vigil was illegal under the Covid rules, so where the BLM and other marches last year. The police stood by whilst a Statue was brought down, dragged down a cobbled street then pushed into the river????? They leave Football Supporters to gather with no intervention???

Watching the video footage this morning I am disgusted by the actions of the Police!!

The statement that we were doing it to protect people’s safety is the biggest load of Bo*cks I have ever heard!!!!!!

last night. speeches from the bandstand and refusing to leave, I watched this pan out on the news ,. the person in the brown coat refusing to move on and resisting arrest.
no repect for Sarah Everard or thought for her family going on what happened to peaceful.
what a disgrace.

GrannyGravy13

Whilst I agree that the vigil was illegal under the Covid rules, so where the BLM and other marches last year. The police stood by whilst a Statue was brought down, dragged down a cobbled street then pushed into the river????? They leave Football Supporters to gather with no intervention???

Watching the video footage this morning I am disgusted by the actions of the Police!!

The statement that we were doing it to protect people’s safety is the biggest load of Bo*cks I have ever heard!!!!!!

I’m with you on this. I followed it unfolding and there is no doubt in my mind that police tactics were fundamentally flawed. Also I have been listening to a string of qualified experienced commentators ( including former senior police officers) saying exactly the same. The most important issue here is the context - why were people there ? Yes quite

With reference to the thousands of football fans who gathered illegally in Glasgow it certainly wasn’t a peaceful event.
In George square in the city centre memorial benches were smashed and council workers retrieved the name plates from them the following morning to return to grieving relatives. Fund raising is now underway to replace the benches.

There were 28 arrests out of the many thousands who gathered.

www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-56321426

Grannygravey13 suziewoozie agree!

Women do need to protest strongly about every violent act against them. This could have been done better and at a later date. Covid kills women too.

The overriding message that I and many others have taken from the behaviour of the Metropolitan Police last night is women are a soft target for all

Whoever decided on the strategy needs to answer an awful lot of questions, this is the most dreadful PR for The Met. Women mourning the murder of a women by a serving Met Officer, harassed and arrested by Met Officers!!!

If it wasn't for Covid, women should get together and protest like this every time a woman is murdered, and I mean every time. Until the law does something about these heinous crimes against women/girls they're going to continue unnoticed like they have been for years.

Where's the freedom for women ? There isn't any !

Two random observations -

Given that the process of re-educating some men will take time I think it would be a good start to call for the funding of taxi services run by women for women.

The handcuffing of women at events patrolled by police could just as easily be seen to be done by female officers. I assume the methods used to restrain individuals are designed to minimise harm to both sides. Presumably the police know beforehand to expect that some individuals will use the occasion to provoke a photo opportunity or incite others to bad behaviour.

Just to correct the idea that the BAME demo last year in Bristol was an illegal gathering - it was NOT. Covid laws had not been brought in stopping any such gatherings, and this had been notified in advance to the police and was totally legal.

Even back then, most of those on this demo wore masks, my daughter drove two of her teenagers to Bristol as they wished to go on this demo. I was with her - we sat in the car as it was not felt really appropriate for someone of my age to mix with so many people. She gave them basic advice, to move away if there was any trouble, to wear their masks all of the time - and if stopped by the police for any reason just to say they are both minors and need an appropriate adult, and they had her and mine mobile numbers.

She did comment that back in the days when she was young and would go on such demos, the last thing she would wear would be a mask as that would have guaranteed she would have been arrested!!! These two youngsters stayed at the meeting the whole time, and only knew about the pulling down of the statue when we returned home.

But it was NOT an Illegal gathering.

With regard to the one last night - seems it was largely spontaneous. Saw the earlier pictures on BBC news and although a large crowd, all were wearing masks, and it looked extremely peaceful. I did wonder if they would be troubled by police action - but then thought to myself - -'Surely not, the Met. would not be so stupid and crass as to do anything about this, which is also a remembering that it was a Met officer who is charged with this horrible murder'-

I was, sadly, totally wrong!!!

This is an article by Sarah Everards' friend, Helena Edwards that I found last night. Here is its essence:

I decided not to attend [the vigil], as have many of her friends. I can’t speak for all of them, but my reason for not attending is this: my friend’s tragic death has been hijacked. It is not a tribute to her any more, it’s about something else – and I don’t like what it has become.

Sarah was a victim of one of the most horrific crimes imaginable. She was extremely unlucky – that is all there is to it.

Others, more knowledgeable about crime statistics than most of us, have said similar things. This sort of horrendous crime against women is extremely rare. We should bear this in mind even if we personally have been subject to harassment by annoying men. Horrible men like whoever killed Sarah make up a tiny minority of all men. We should bear that in mind too. Men as a whole are not awful towards women. Too much of the media is tarring the whole class of men with the same brush. That is wrong. Very wrong.

Nell8

Two random observations -

Given that the process of re-educating some men will take time I think it would be a good start to call for the funding of taxi services run by women for women.

The handcuffing of women at events patrolled by police could just as easily be seen to be done by female officers. I assume the methods used to restrain individuals are designed to minimise harm to both sides. Presumably the police know beforehand to expect that some individuals will use the occasion to provoke a photo opportunity or incite others to bad behaviour.

But it’s not just about getting home safely - some of us have been trying to stop it being reduced p ( poor word but I hope you know what I mean) to that. It’s about a schoolgirl bring catcalled on her way home from school or AZ woman rubbed against in a tube carriage. It’s about a whole culture which demeans and reduces women to less than the sum of their body parts? The taxi service idea is just a non starter isn’t it for myriad reasons

As for the rest of your post, it is rather based on a lot of assumptions which aren’t backed up by the accounts of those there or people experienced in policing tactics. I know NSY will be busy with the white wash today but nothing will wipe out the images from last night and the fact that the police for whatever reason did not leave well alone. If ever kid gloves had been needed, yesterday was the time.

AZ = a ( too much vaccine talk)

Baggs

This is an article by Sarah Everards' friend, Helena Edwards that I found last night. Here is its essence:

I decided not to attend [the vigil], as have many of her friends. I can’t speak for all of them, but my reason for not attending is this: my friend’s tragic death has been hijacked. It is not a tribute to her any more, it’s about something else – and I don’t like what it has become.

Sarah was a victim of one of the most horrific crimes imaginable. She was extremely unlucky – that is all there is to it.

Others, more knowledgeable about crime statistics than most of us, have said similar things. This sort of horrendous crime against women is extremely rare. We should bear this in mind even if we personally have been subject to harassment by annoying men. Horrible men like whoever killed Sarah make up a tiny minority of all men. We should bear that in mind too. Men as a whole are not awful towards women. Too much of the media is tarring the whole class of men with the same brush. That is wrong. Very wrong.

Many of us have been putting violence against women into wider context. This murder has just been a catalyst for promoting a discussion of the filthy underbelly comprising all types of sexism and violence towards women of which murder is the most extreme. Those of us looking at it from this perspective know full well the statistics of the likelihood of being murdered, in what circumstances and by whom as I think has been made quite clear on the various relevant threads.

On the teatime news one of the organisers of the vigil said the event would not be going ahead and asking for women to light a candle on their doorsteps at 9.30pm, the time Sarah is thought to have been kidnapped. It looks as if a breakaway group decided to go ahead regardless of the Met's request not to hold a vigil and the Covid-19 restrictions. As with most of these gatherings there are always some who feel the need to add belligerence to the mix. I felt the way some women behaved last night was disrespectful to Sarah's memory and showed complete disregard for her devastated family. I daresay we will have the usual tub-thumpers demanding Cressida Dick's resignation and strict measures put in place immediately to make the streets safer for women. The bottom line is that the vast majority of Met officers are decent people doing their utmost to protect us and the vast majority of men do not trawl the streets looking for women to attack. The aftermath of last night's vigil needs some clear heads.

A vigil is supposed to be a silent contemplation, a time for reflection and remembrance, not a place for speeches.
The organisers took their demands to High Court, their request was refused, therefore it became an act of defiance and of protest; there was no attempt to organise it to comply with covid restrictions.
The Rangers' gathering and the BLM protests were handled badly, but they provide no justification for the gathering last night.
As the friend of Sarah Everard said, her tragic death has been hijacked and used for something else.
I have just seen, and heard, tv footage of the 'event', women bawling and chanting at the top of their voices.
Very clearly not a vigil.

Sadly, I wouldn't want to meet some of the " shouty " women in the dark either !
There can be protests without the trouble involved. They all seem to now end up with double standards of what it initially set out to be. Just an excuse to let off steam. Cretins.

The bandstand where people went quietly and left beautiful flowers has been sullied by highjackers facing into the camera as they were arrested wonder what their parents think of them. What lowlives.

poor Sarah Everard's family.

this murder has just been a catalyst ?????????

You are seriously willing to reduce a woman's brutal and horrific murder to "just a catalyst" to justify the fact that you and thousands of other women have hijacked this tragedy for another agenda?

Yes, that agenda matters, hugely - but don't hitch it to the wagon of something that it isn't. To coin one of your favourite phrases - disgusting.

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.

Shocking !! Shameful !!

Thank you for posting that baggs . I feel sorry for all families who lose a member of theirs in the same way ,some may feel their son/daughter wasn't has important.

The Met behaved dreadfully and showed themselves up awfully, manhandling women in the way they did, this is only going to inflame more and more this will bring on another demonstration and another and another
How many times do they sit back and watch when there are demonstrations They could have stood and watched quietly or as someone up thread said lay a wreath or some flowers and be there as observers ...in case... instead they have completely proved the point being made Women are very often treated badly by men and as in the case of Sarah murdered by a man who should have protected her of course there will be anger and demonstrations
The Pandora’s box is open now

NellG

*this murder has just been a catalyst* ?????????

You are seriously willing to reduce a woman's brutal and horrific murder to "just a catalyst" to justify the fact that you and thousands of other women have hijacked this tragedy for another agenda?

Yes, that agenda matters, hugely - but don't hitch it to the wagon of something that it isn't. To coin one of your favourite phrases - disgusting.

I was using ‘just’ as meaning it’s not just about the death - because it isn’t. Historically there are many examples of single deaths being a catalyst for change as they become a symbol of a festering range of problems that have not been addressed. It’s not hijacking, it was inevitable given where we are wrt to women. I find your faux outrage quite disingenuous. And disgusting one of my favourite phrases? Firstly it’s not a phrase , it’s a word and secondly you’re wrong? I employ a much wider vocabulary than that. However, if you’ve done an analysis of the frequency of this word in my vocabulary vis-a-vis the other words I employ, and provide this in a statistical format, I do, of course, stand ready to be corrected ?

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