London Assembly to question Met over clashes at Sarah Everard vigil

By Joe Talora, Local Democracy Reporter

The Metropolitan Police will tomorrow face questions from the London Assembly’s police and crime committee over its handling of a vigil for Sarah Everard at the weekend.

The Met was widely condemned for the way it policed Saturday’s vigil as officers clashed with crowds and handcuffed several young women on Clapham Common.

There are also wider questions for the force after it emerged a serving Met officer had been arrested on suspicion of Sarah’s murder, while another officer was suspended for allegedly sending an offensive graphic to colleagues while guarding a cordon as part of the investigation.

Met commissioner Cressida Dick, who this week rebuffed calls to resign, was invited to attend tomorrow’s meeting but turned down the invitation, according to committee chairman Unmesh Desai.

Mr Desai told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We did invite (Cressida Dick). I felt that she may wish to personally explain things to the committee. I gave her the choice. She thanked me for inviting her but declined the invitation.

“We wanted to be fair and give her the chance, as the commissioner in the firing line in charge of the Met, to come to us. It would have been the first public opportunity to talk to Londoners directly.”

Assembly members will instead put questions to the Met’s deputy commissioner Sir Stephen House as well as the Deputy Mayor for Policing Sophie Linden.

The Metropolitan Police is under intense scrutiny following Saturday’s scenes and both Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have called for a full independent investigation into the events.

Tomorrow’s police and crime committee meeting is open to the public and will be broadcast live from 10am on the London Assembly website.