The aftermath of Saturday night’s confrontation in a south London park between the police and the mourners on a vigil over the suspicion of being a murder victim, Sarah Everard, was swift and there is an increasing demand for the highest ranking police officer police department resign.
Cressida Dick, head of the Metropolitan Police, told Sky News that she would not leave her post and that the circumstances surrounding Everard’s death inspired her to continue.
KATE MIDDLETON VISITS THE MEMORIAL
Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, left on a 50-minute walk from a friend’s house in South London around 9 pm on March 3. She never came. On Friday, police confirmed that a body found hidden in a forest 50 miles southeast of the city is hers.
London police arrested a member of the force’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command on Tuesday as a suspect in the case. On Friday, the police accused the policeman, Officer Wayne Couzens, of kidnapping and murder. Couzens, 48, is due to appear in court on Saturday.
A crowd of people ignored the restrictions of COVID-19 on Saturday night and gathered to mourn the alleged murder of the woman and used the tragedy to highlight the dangers that women face in the city. Some in the crowd held signs with messages like “We will not be silenced”, “We live in fear” and “Women’s rights are human rights”, while others waved anti-police slogans.
The policemen were severely criticized after images of policemen aggressively “mistreated” and handcuffed bereaved people during the vigil appeared. The New York Times reported that hundreds of protesters shouted to the police at a park in Clapham: “Arrest yours!” and “Hey, sir, take my sister’s hands off.”
The Times wrote that police officers “threw shocked young women to the ground, the London Metropolitan Police could hardly have provided a better example of what women were protesting if they had decided to do so intentionally.”
The Financial Times reported that Sir Ed Davey asked Dick to present his resignation immediately.
“People want ministers to act decisively, not to play to buy time waiting for reports. It is already clear that what happened last night was a complete tactical and moral failure by the Met police,” he said.
Brie Stimson of Fox News and the Associated Press contributed to this report