Protest takes many forms. Demonstrations can be planned far in advance, with routes negotiated with police and local authorities. Other protests are more spontaneous. The vigil held in south London on 13 March last year, 10 days after Sarah Everard went missing and one day after a serving police officer was charged with kidnap and murder, belongs in the second category. The outpouring of horror that followed Ms Everard’s abduction near Clapham Common, and the revelation that a police officer was thought to be responsible, gave rise to a plan for women to gather in a public display of grief and anger.
It reflects appallingly on the Metropolitan police that, 15 months later, the force continues to pursue those involved in a way that looks vindictive. The criminal convictions and fines given last week to three of those who attended the vigil, for breaking Covid laws, are an affront to those who felt strongly about Ms Everard’s murder, and other recent police failures. That proceedings were conducted in secret compounds this insult, as does the Met’s absurd defence of its heavy-handed tactics with claims the gathering was “anti-police”. Three others who attended the Sarah Everard vigil have court dates later this month.
