London police face backlash after dragging mourners from vigil for murdered woman

[webfact]

London police face backlash after dragging mourners from vigil for murdered woman
By Ben Makori and William James

Police detain a woman as people gather at a memorial site in Clapham Common Bandstand, following the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, in London, Britain March 13, 2021. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

LONDON (Reuters) - London police faced a backlash from the public on Sunday and an official inquiry into their actions after using heavy-handed tactics to break up an outdoor vigil for a woman whose suspected killer is a police officer.

The disappearance of Sarah Everard, 33, as she walked home on the evening of March 3, has provoked a huge outpouring of grief and dismay in Britain at the failure of police and wider society to tackle violence against women.

Police had denied permission for a vigil on Saturday evening at London's Clapham Common, near where Everard was last seen alive, citing regulations aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

But hundreds of people, mostly women, gathered peacefully at the park in defiance of the ban to pay their respects to Everard throughout Saturday, including Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Later on Saturday dozens of police officers marched into the crowd to shouts of "shame on you". Scuffles broke out and officers dragged women away from the scene.

"Last night people were very, very upset, there was a great deal of emotion, completely understandably, and the police, being as they are operationally independent, will be having to explain that to the Home Secretary," safeguarding minister Victoria Atkins told Sky News.

London police faced a backlash from the public and politicians on Sunday for their heavy-handed tactics in breaking up an outdoor vigil for a woman whose suspected killer is a police officer.. Edward Baran reports.

London police chief Cressida Dick backed her officers and said that they needed to make a very difficult judgement.

"We're still in a pandemic, unlawful gatherings are unlawful gatherings, officers have to take action if people are putting themselves massively at risk," Dick told reporters.

Asked if she was considering resigning, she said: "No, I'm not."

Home Secretary Priti Patel, the minister in charge of policing, described footage of the incident as "upsetting". Her office said she had ordered an independent inquiry after an initial police report left some questions unanswered.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan also said he was not satisfied with police chiefs' explanation of the events and said officers' conduct must be examined.

"WOMEN DON'T FEEL SAFE"

An image of officers handcuffing a woman on Saturday night as she lay on the floor was widely shared and condemned on social media.

The woman, Patsy Stevenson, told LBC radio: "The main point that everyone was trying to get across when everything happened is that women don't feel safe, they don't feel safe walking down a street and that's the bare minimum we should feel the freedom to do."

She said she was fined 200 pounds ($278) for breaching COVID regulations

Everard's murder has resonated with woman across the country, prompting thousands to share on social media their experiences of violence and sexual assaults perpetrated by men, and vividly describe the daily fear they feel.

On Sunday, hundreds gathered outside police headquarters and marched to a grassy square outside parliament where they lay down en masse in calm protest. Some carried anti-police placards, while others protested against violence against women.

Separately, a steady flow of quiet mourners continued to visit the site of the vigil, placing flowers around a bandstand.

"I feel very angry that they think that they have the right to dictate how we mourn and how we react," 24-year old student Lilith Blackwell told Reuters at the bandstand.

A police officer charged with Everard's murder appeared in court on Saturday. Police discovered her body on Wednesday in woodland about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of London. The court heard that her body was found in a builder's refuse bag, and identified using dental records..

($1 = 0.7183 pounds)

(Reporting by William James, Ben Makori, Will Russell and Natalie Thomas; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Angus MacSwan and Edmund Blair)

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-15

 

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[RichardColeman]

People I saw there were just the usual rent a mob causing problems after the decent people had left after paying condolences.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

"We're still in a pandemic, unlawful gatherings are unlawful gatherings, officers have to take action if people are putting themselves massively at risk," Dick told reporters.

Exactly. Had they not done anything they would have been criticized for not enforcing the law.

[colinneil]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

London police chief Cressida Dick backed her officers 

Dick by name and acting like a dick, bloody disgusting behaviour by the police, especially in this case, the poor woman was murdered by 1 of their own.

[Tug]

A really stupid move on the part of the police in this particular instance imo I think the idiot that gave the order needs a mental review by qualified doctors a really really dumb move

[Chomper Higgot]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

People I saw there were just the usual rent a mob causing problems after the decent people had left after paying condolences.

 

And your evidence that the women at the vigil were paid to attend is?

 

 

[Scott]

Troll posts reported and removed.

 

[Asquith Production]

54 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Dick by name and acting like a dick, bloody disgusting behaviour by the police, especially in this case, the poor woman was murdered by 1 of their own.

Whats disgusting, the Police were implementing the lockdown laws. I bet most of these people used it as an excuse to break the regulations. Im sure Sarah would not have wanted this gathering. The fact that Sarah was murdered by an off duty Police Officer as nothing to do with the removal of people from the gathering.

[colinneil]

Just now, Asquith Production said:

Whats disgusting, the Police were implementing the lockdown laws. I bet most of these people used it as an excuse to break the regulations. Im sure Sarah would not have wanted this gathering. The fact that Sarah was murdered by an off duty Police Officer as nothing to do with the removal of people from the gathering.

Nonsense, the met police are being led by a woman who is not there because of her ability to do the job, but because of political correctness, nothing else.

[Chomper Higgot]

“London police chief Cressida Dick backed her officers and said that they needed to make a very difficult judgement.”

 

Here’s the problem with this statement.

The police officers who were at the scene did not arrive of their own individual volition, they were given orders by their superiors.

With the police force under close scrutiny arising from one of their own credibly accused of randomly kidnapping and murdering a woman, and news leaking of this officer’s past sexual offenses that were reported within the force but not dealt with; an officer(s) makes the decision to go in heavy handed against a bunch of women attending a vigil for the murder victim.

Plastered across the news is the image of a young woman being handcuffed and carted off by the police. 

Did any plod of any rank even consider the likely PR consequences of dragging women off the street when the reason she was there in the first place was to protest a police officer kidnapping and murdering a woman?

At risk is the foundation of Policing in the UK, ‘Policing by consent’, extract as follows:

 

“To recognise always that the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/policing-by-consent/definition-of-policing-by-consent

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by Chomper Higgot

[Asquith Production]

18 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Nonsense, the met police are being led by a woman who is not there because of her ability to do the job, but because of political correctness, nothing else.

Whats your evidence for that? Are you saying women are incapable of doing the job.

[TKDfella]

14 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Nonsense, the met police are being led by a woman who is not there because of her ability to do the job, but because of political correctness, nothing else.

That is not the issue. The issue is how the police carried out their duty and if the current Covid 19 regulations prohibit gatherings then the police are obliged to intervene.

However, I would have thought some kind of compromise should have been sought showing an appreciation for those who wanted to genuinely pay their respects such as having a police presence and allowing a certain number of people at one time for say, a couple of minutes. Now, I don't if that example would be practical but something along those lines would go some way into satisfying both sides and also perhaps eliminate those who deliberately wanted to cause trouble.

[klauskunkel]

22 minutes ago, TKDfella said:

That is not the issue. The issue is how the police carried out their duty and if the current Covid 19 regulations prohibit gatherings then the police are obliged to intervene.

I think the perception is that the police did not carry out its duty to protect women in London, and when that failure is made public and protested against, then the police choose to carry out its duty under Covid laws. It appears that some duties are more convenient to carry out than others.

[colinneil]

1 hour ago, Asquith Production said:

Whats your evidence for that? Are you saying women are incapable of doing the job.

Why are you bringing womens ability into this?

I said Cresida Dick was given the job due to political correctness, 1 woman, not women.

Regarding womens ability, Margeret Thatcher was the only British Prime Minister  in recent history with any balls, or than Winston Churchill.

Before you prattle on about PC, just before i retired almost everybody in the construction industry was informed that we were no longer allowed to call a manhole cover, a manhole cover, as it was an offensive term, in future we had to call them utility chamber covers.

That is just the same as Cresida Dicks appointment political correctness.

[Asquith Production]

Just now, colinneil said:

Why are you bringing womens ability into this?

I said Cresida Dick was given the job due to political correctness, 1 woman, not women.

Regarding womens ability, Margeret Thatcher was the only British Prime Minister  in recent history with any balls, or than Winston Churchill.

Before you prattle on about PC, just before i retired almost everybody in the construction industry was informed that we were no longer allowed to call a manhole cover, a manhole cover, as it was an offensive term, in future we had to call them utility chamber covers.

That is just the same as Cresida Dicks appointment political correctness.

So by your reasoning because manhole covers was regarded as an offensive term, due to political correctness, they appointed Cressida Dicks as Commissioner. So by your argument a women was put in place to be politically correct and not because of her ability to do the job.

[OswaldBastable]

26 minutes ago, colinneil said:

I said Cresida Dick was given the job due to political correctness, 1 woman, not women.

I'd have to agree with that. She was also in charge of the operation where police shot a guy in the head 8 times. Jean Charles de Menezes was mistaken for a terrorist which was no excuse to empty a gun in his head. So not a good track record of competence at all.

Edited March 15, 2021 by OswaldBastable

[Thingamabob]

4 hours ago, colinneil said:

Dick by name and acting like a dick, bloody disgusting behaviour by the police, especially in this case, the poor woman was murdered by 1 of their own.

In the UK innocent until proven guilty-or maybe not any more...

[stretch5163]

4 hours ago, colinneil said:

Dick by name and acting like a dick, bloody disgusting behaviour by the police, especially in this case, the poor woman was murdered by 1 of their own.

Sorry but there is clearly only 1 dick here.  What dont people understand about the fact that the vigil was against covid protocol rules and cancelled but people still persit on breaking the rules. The relevance of who killed the woman has no impact and as such shouldnt affect the way police control the situation.

Thats the trouble with the UK the Police are to soft and as such people carry on how they will as they know nothing will happen. Maybe we need to change and take action as that in Mynmar against protests and Hong Kong when they were transitioning.

 

Everyone quick enough to bash the police who are only doing their job. All these people think they are exempt from prosecution should be fined and no sympathy for the ones dragged away by the police.

[Thingamabob]

Sadly the event was taken over at one point by the low-life rent-a-mob crowd. However, London Met should have handled this much better. I can't remember a time when they've earned the public's respect. 

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

Why are you bringing womens ability into this?

I said Cresida Dick was given the job due to political correctness, 1 woman, not women.

Regarding womens ability, Margeret Thatcher was the only British Prime Minister  in recent history with any balls, or than Winston Churchill.

Before you prattle on about PC, just before i retired almost everybody in the construction industry was informed that we were no longer allowed to call a manhole cover, a manhole cover, as it was an offensive term, in future we had to call them utility chamber covers.

That is just the same as Cresida Dicks appointment political correctness.

Where is your evidence that ‘Political Correctness’ had anything to with the appointment of Cressida Dick?

 

[FarFlungFalang]

It's plain to see how effective the covid regulations in the UK have been.Number 5 for the worst in the world and with a population similar to Thailand they have about 125,400 more deaths, so no wonder people don't trust the regulations as they don't seem to be working too well. 

[gunderhill]

Guess  WLM don't  matter. However "people of  colour" ( laughable)  can go ahead.

[donnacha]

It was dumb of the police to walk into it, but the situation was clearly set up by the usual attention-seeking lunatics. If you are not able to see that this was all about the footage and Twitter glory, I don't know what to say to you.

Here is the thing though. There is a lockdown. Gatherings are not allowed. Over the past year, families all over the world have been unable to mourn the loss of their loved ones. They have not been able to visit their parents in care homes or hospital. Everyone's life has been disrupted.

The police did actually allow the initial memorial event to happen, despite it being illegal. They only moved in after the majority had gone home and it was clear that the hardcore crowd were intent on staying all night.

All of you who think that the right to virtue signal is more important than containing the pandemic need to understand that the UK is not America. The vast majority of the population, whatever their issues with the government, perceive this fight as a public good, a situation in which British people have to pull together and do their bit. Unlike the US media, they do not accept the bizarre notion that the virus will not spread among leftist protestors. 

I would also like to say that this modern fetish, in so many Western countries, of pretending that the actions of one police officer means that all police officers are guilty is nasty, intellectually lazy, and just plain rude when you consider how much these people do, often at personal risk, and for relatively little money. They are our public servants. We ask them to do a difficult job. They are the often the ones who protect women from abusive partners, or minorities from racists. In the UK, at least, they are overwhelmingly a force for good and they deserve better than having to play media games with the woke mob.

[loong]

The police show up because there is an unauthorised and illegal gathering.

I am quite sure that they began by requesting that the crowd disperse and go home.

Crowd refuses to disperse.

What are the police supposed to do? Just say "Ok then, sorry to bother you" and back off?

No, they do their job but then they are accused of being heavy-handed!

How do you disperse an unruly crowd without being a bit heavy-handed?

Maybe the UK police should learn from the RTP and be selective about what laws they enforce! Nobody would criticise them for that. as is obvious from this very forum. After all it is very very rare to read any posts criticising the RTP for their selective law enforcement!

The UK government has had a lot of criticism over the last year for their handling of the epidemic. Now that they seem to finally be getting it under control, is it Ok for an illegal gathering to be allowed to continue and risk additional outbreaks?

An illegal gathering is an illegal gathering. Whatever the reason for that illegal gathering makes no difference. The gathering does not become less-illegal because you may sympathise with the reason.

If a same sized group gathered in the same place tomorrow for a drinking party and the police broke it up. Would you criticise the police? If not, then why criticise them for dispersing this mob?

I would also like to add that it is shameful the amount of the people in the video who still refuse to wear a mask!

 

 

[OJAS]

2 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

I think the perception is that the police did not carry out its duty to protect women in London, and when that failure is made public and protested against, then the police choose to carry out its duty under Covid laws. It appears that some duties are more convenient to carry out than others.

Whereas, on the other hand, stopping the protest linked below under COVID laws proved far too inconvenient for the Metropolitan Police Force to carry out, for some reason or other:-

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/photos/world/thousands-protest-in-london-against-lockdown-and-social-distancing-rules-imposed-to-combat-covid-19-5889441-3.html

To quote from that link: "As the protest began, police were visible around the edges of the crowd but didn't confront protesters, most of whom weren't wearing masks." 

Edited March 15, 2021 by OJAS

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

The police need to drop the politics. Kneeling to BLM while being heavy handed with this crowd is not acceptable.

What has the BLM got to do with this?

[Chomper Higgot]

22 minutes ago, gunderhill said:

Guess  WLM don't  matter. However "people of  colour" ( laughable)  can go ahead.

The topic under discussion is not your issues with other people’s skin tone.

[Neeranam]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The topic under discussion is not your issues with other people’s skin tone.

Try looking outside the box a little as it means you can see the issue at hand. 

If the police allow black people to congregate but not white, do you think this isn't an important racial issue?

[donnacha]

16 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Whereas, on the other hand, stopping the protest linked below under COVID laws proved far too inconvenient for the Metropolitan Police Force to carry out, for some reason or other

That was six months ago. The situation is a lot more serious now. The UK is in a desperate fight to get the population vaccinated before more variants emerge. As the weather improves, these super-spreader protests will start popping up all over the country, just as they did in the US last summer (social justice warriors don't like getting wet and cold).

If I remember correctly, the London protest was fairly contained and the organizers were fined £10,000. The police also let this memorial event go ahead despite being illegal. They only moved in to disperse the crowd when most of the people had gone home. That is actually reasonably restrained policing and only the antifa nut-jobs were left.

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by donnacha

[Chomper Higgot]

18 minutes ago, loong said:

The police show up because there is an unauthorised and illegal gathering.

I am quite sure that they began by requesting that the crowd disperse and go home.

Crowd refuses to disperse.

What are the police supposed to do? Just say "Ok then, sorry to bother you" and back off?

No, they do their job but then they are accused of being heavy-handed!

How do you disperse an unruly crowd without being a bit heavy-handed?

Maybe the UK police should learn from the RTP and be selective about what laws they enforce! Nobody would criticise them for that. as is obvious from this very forum. After all it is very very rare to read any posts criticising the RTP for their selective law enforcement!

The UK government has had a lot of criticism over the last year for their handling of the epidemic. Now that they seem to finally be getting it under control, is it Ok for an illegal gathering to be allowed to continue and risk additional outbreaks?

An illegal gathering is an illegal gathering. Whatever the reason for that illegal gathering makes no difference. The gathering does not become less-illegal because you may sympathise with the reason.

If a same sized group gathered in the same place tomorrow for a drinking party and the police broke it up. Would you criticise the police? If not, then why criticise them for dispersing this mob?

I would also like to add that it is shameful the amount of the people in the video who still refuse to wear a mask!

 

 

As has been explained above with an illustrative example, the police don’t always choose to intervene in large groups of people breaking Covid registrations.