London – Protests against gender-based violence continued on Monday in London, while hundreds marched from outside Parliament through the city shouting “the united sisters will never be defeated”, “justice for Sarah” and “kill the bill”.
“We don’t just want excessive policing and more policemen who abuse their powers in relation to women, we want real action,” said Jennifer, 25. “We want money spent on women’s services, we want cultural change to protect women and fight misogyny and violence. “
The demonstration follows two days of protests sparked by the death of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, whose body was found last week after she disappeared while walking home at night on well-lit London streets. The man accused of killing Everard is a police officer who was indicted for indecency just days before Everard’s death.
Activists initially signed up to hold a socially detached vigil on Saturday, but permission for the vigil was denied because the UK is currently under a national blockade against the coronavirus. This did not prevent hundreds of people, mainly women, from appearing in a park near where Everard was last seen in South London. After about an hour, the police forcefully entered the peaceful crowd, finally arresting four people, two of them teenagers.
The protests also highlighted the actions of the London Metropolitan Police, which officials such as Mayor Sadiq Khan and UK Interior Secretary Priti Patel criticized and expanded the pending national legislation requests that civil rights groups say would increase. police powers to contain protests to be canceled.
The fear of not being able to demonstrate if the legislation is passed has prompted several people and groups to join Monday’s protest.
“It’s our last chance, potentially, to express our opinions with free speech,” said Haley, 19, who noted that Black Lives Matter and climate activists Extinction Rebellion were launched on Monday.
“We are trying to say everything we can before we are silenced,” she said.
Everard’s murder sparked a national debate about violence against women and how it is treated in the UK. Britain currently has record levels of rape cases, despite an exponential increase in rape reports in recent years.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a meeting of the government’s crime and justice task force on Monday to discuss his strategy on violence against women and why rape cases are so low. Britain’s police officers are also expected to hold an emergency meeting on the matter.
Anger grew rapidly at the way the police handled Saturday’s demonstration, and thousands took to the streets of central London on Sunday in protest.
“We learned one thing this weekend: it is the right to protest, the right to assemble, the right to have a voice is fundamental to our democracy, and particularly British democracy,” said former police chief Sir Peter Fahy to a local radio station. “You have to be very careful about passing more legislation just because certain politicians did not like certain demonstrations in the summer,” he said.
HANNAH MCKAY / REUTERS
“I find it outrageous that the police, the Metropolitan Police, who murdered Sarah – they murdered her – and they are telling us that we are not allowed, we are not allowed to come and show solidarity. They killed her ”. Alexandra, 26, told CBS News at the demonstration on Saturday night.
“We have all experienced some form of sexual violence or some kind of aggression or feeling insecure and that is enough,” Sarah, 32, also told CBS News on Saturday night’s vigil. “This must be a turning point so that we simply do not accept to feel fear, intimidation and to live our lives freely as our male colleagues.”