UK police under fire after unrest at vigil

The head of London's Metropolitan Police said Sunday that she has no plans to quit after criticism over its handling of a vigil for Sarah Everard.

Police officers were seen handcuffing women and removing them from crowds at a memorial for the 33-year-old marketing executive.

Gatherings of that size are currently illegal in England under the government's coronavirus and social distancing regulations.

But Cressida Dick, the force's commissioner, said she was not considering quitting her position as one of the UK's most senior police officials.

"Quite rightly, as far as I can see, my team felt that this is now an unlawful gathering which poses a considerable risk to people's health," she said.

"I don't think anybody who was not in the operation can actually pass a detailed comment on the rightness and wrongness.

"What has happened makes me more determined, not less, to lead my organization."

Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have said they have requested explanations for police behavior at the rally at Clapham Common. 

The Metropolitan Police later released a statement, saying they intervened because of "the overriding need to protect people’s safety."

The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, called the scenes "deeply disturbing."

'Good deal of anger' at police

DW correspondent Charlotte Chelsom-Pill, who was at the vigil, said that she and her team saw several people being carried away by police.

She added that "there was a good deal of anger aimed at the police by a number of the people present at the vigil" over the fact that the event had not been authorized.

However, she said that the vigil had largely been peaceful, with many people just wanting to lay flowers in commemoration of the dead woman.

Activists' condemnation

The group Reclaim These Streets, the organizer of an initial official event that was canceled after being outlawed, condemned officers for "physically manhandling women at the vigil against male violence."

The feminist group Sister's Uncut tweeted late on Saturday that "Metropolitan police officers waited for the sun to set before they started grabbing and manhandling women in the crowd."

Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, disappeared while walking home from the apartment of friends in Clapham on the evening of March 3. A week later, her body was found in woods in southeast England near the house of the main suspect in the case, who was serving in the Metropolitan Police's elite diplomatic protection unit.

The case has provoked heated debate about violence against women in the country.

tj/mm (AFP, Reuters)