London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

'A missed opportunity': campaigners react to Everard vigil policing report

'A missed opportunity': campaigners react to Everard vigil policing report

Analysis: campaigners say women’s trust in police undermined by watchdog’s conclusions
A watchdog report that deemed the policing of a vigil for Sarah Everard “appropriate” has undermined women’s trust in the police, according to campaigners, attendees and the vigil’s original organisers.

Organisers from Reclaim These Streets, which cancelled a planned short, socially distanced vigil after police said they could be fined tens of thousands of pounds, said the report had failed to investigate how the cancellation of the event had led to more anger and the greater likelihood of public disorder.

The home secretary, Priti Patel, ordered the report after widespread anger at images of officers pinning women to the floor at the vigil in Clapham Common, south London, on Saturday 13 March.

The report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) published on Tuesday concluded that officers had acted “appropriately”, stating they “did their best to peacefully disperse the crowd; police officers remained calm and professional when subjected to abuse; and police officers did not act inappropriately or in a heavy-handed manner”.

But Jessica Leigh, one of the original vigil’s organisers said policing of the event had further eroded women’s confidence in the police.

“There is no attempt in this report to address the issue that women now have less trust in the police than they did before the vigil,” she said. “It is a missed opportunity to recognise the damage done by the police’s decision to push for the event to be cancelled, and exacerbated by their actions while policing the event.”

She accused the report of framing organisers as “silly little girls who didn’t know how to organise an event”, despite the fact that two were elected councillors with experience of event organisation.

Estelle du Boulay, the director of Rights of Women, said she was “appalled by the scenes of police brutality” at the Clapham vigil.

She pointed to the report’s finding that there “was a degree of confusion as to the correct legal position”, saying this revealed an apparent lack of understanding of human rights obligations.

“How the review can therefore conclude that the police acted “appropriately” raises serious questions around the credibility of the review,” she said. “It’s conclusion will do nothing to improve women’s confidence in policing and will further deepen the widespread distrust in accountability mechanisms in relation to the police.

Reclaim These Streets said local police had initially been willing to work together when they proposed a peaceful and short vigil, but then said they had to ban the event because of coronavirus restrictions. The group took the police to the high court for an emergency hearing, but after their challenge failed they cancelled the event citing the police’s “lack of constructive engagement”.

Many chose to attend the event despite police warnings. As night fell police began forcibly removing protesters and there was further anger as some officers were seen trampling on flowers that had been left on Clapham Common bandstand.

One attendee said the report did not reflect her experience. “The police were really very aggressively asking people to leave and telling them they would be arrested if they didn’t. It really wasn’t a polite chat,” said Becky Gardiner, a lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Mandu Reid, the leader of the Women’s Equality party said: “This exoneration of the police only adds fuel to claims that the force has a huge problem with institutional misogyny and sexism and that officers can and will act with impunity.”

Jess Southgate, the chief executive of Agenda, the alliance for women and girls at risk called for police to be trained to recognise and respond to victims of trauma, rather than “retraumatising them through arrests”.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×