An organiser of a Sarah Everard vigil has hit out after the Metropolitan Police’s handling of the event was backed by inspectors.
Reclaim These Streets organiser Jamie Klingler said she was “very disappointed but not that surprised” by the result of the investigation.
The report by the Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Thomas Winsor found the force was justified in its actions because the event risked spreading Covid-19.
It found that officers were not heavy-handed and remained “calm and professional” while facing abuse in the later stages of the vigil on March 13.
Inspectors were called in by Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan to examine the force’s actions after women who attended the event on Clapham Common were put on the ground and arrested.
But the report found that officers acted “lawfully, sensitively and proportionately” despite “severe provocation” and “very difficult circumstances” in breaking up the vigil.
After the findings were published, vigil organiser Ms Klingler said: “I felt heard and I felt they really listened to us, so to then see us once again feel silenced and belittled and told that our experience isn’t valid to the Met is quite upsetting.
“The vigil and what we were doing was about violence against women at the hands of men, and what did we see? Violence against women at the hands of men,” the 42-year-old added.
Tuesday’s findings follow the outcry over the disorder that took place at the event in Clapham common.
The vigil, which remained peaceful for several hours, ended in violent scenes with several arrests after police decided to break it up on the grounds that it was breaching coronavirus restrictions on mass gatherings.
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“We were all freaked out, we were all mourning and instead of treating us with respect at that point, they made it bigger, bigger, bigger and worse and pushed it back on us,” Ms Klingler told the Mail, adding, The buck stops with the Met. They are going to have to deal with years of trying to regain that trust.”
