Wednesday, June 08, 2022
How Met Police Officers overreacted at the Sarah Everard vigil
The level of paranoia within the Metropolitian Police has been laid bare by this article in the Guardian, which reveals that attenders at Sarah Everard’s vigil were arrested by police officers who feared the event had become an “anti-police protest”, according to reports.
The paper says that officers claimed in witness statements first reported by the Evening Standard that they were branded “murderers” by those in attendance. Clearly, this provocation was too much for them, though there appears to be no thought to the fears of those attending this vigil, who were concerned that a serving Metropolitan Police Officer had just murdered a woman.
Given the behaviour of the police at this vigil, it is little wonder that the high court ruled the force had breached the rights of organisers, Reclaim These Streets, nor that the Met was refused permission to appeal. However, senior officers appear to have authorised criminal charges against people who attended the vigil despite losing this high court case:
Met officers “trampled all over” protesters’ human rights, according to Reclaim These Streets (RTS) co-founder Jamie Klingler. She told the Guardian: “It’s a huge amount of taxpayers’ money that they wasted on our case and even when the permission to appeal was denied, once it was called ‘hopeless’, they still kept spending.
“Now they are continuing to spend taxpayers’ money when we have proven in the high court … that they never did the proportionate review. They never acted like we had a reasonable excuse and their policing decisions show that.
“They never had any intention of letting it go ahead, hence everything they did.”
Arrests were made during the vigil following Everard’s abduction, rape and murder by the serving Met officer Wayne Couzens. Six people are now facing prosecution.
Klingler added: “We were demonstrating our human right to assemble under the Human Rights Act 10 and 11. They trampled all over those rights and dug their heels in.”
Isn't it time the Met stopped digging the hole they have placed themselves in.
The paper says that officers claimed in witness statements first reported by the Evening Standard that they were branded “murderers” by those in attendance. Clearly, this provocation was too much for them, though there appears to be no thought to the fears of those attending this vigil, who were concerned that a serving Metropolitan Police Officer had just murdered a woman.
Given the behaviour of the police at this vigil, it is little wonder that the high court ruled the force had breached the rights of organisers, Reclaim These Streets, nor that the Met was refused permission to appeal. However, senior officers appear to have authorised criminal charges against people who attended the vigil despite losing this high court case:
Met officers “trampled all over” protesters’ human rights, according to Reclaim These Streets (RTS) co-founder Jamie Klingler. She told the Guardian: “It’s a huge amount of taxpayers’ money that they wasted on our case and even when the permission to appeal was denied, once it was called ‘hopeless’, they still kept spending.
“Now they are continuing to spend taxpayers’ money when we have proven in the high court … that they never did the proportionate review. They never acted like we had a reasonable excuse and their policing decisions show that.
“They never had any intention of letting it go ahead, hence everything they did.”
Arrests were made during the vigil following Everard’s abduction, rape and murder by the serving Met officer Wayne Couzens. Six people are now facing prosecution.
Klingler added: “We were demonstrating our human right to assemble under the Human Rights Act 10 and 11. They trampled all over those rights and dug their heels in.”
Isn't it time the Met stopped digging the hole they have placed themselves in.
