Vigils and protests held across South London for Sarah Everard as women ‘refuse to be silenced’

The murder of Sarah Everard as she walked home at night has triggered an outpouring of sadness and criticism of the Met Police from women across South London.

A vigil held on Saturday for the 33-year-old marketing executive at Clapham Common, where she disappeared, escalated into chaos when police officers flooded the bandstand and arrested attendees.

One symbolic image from the night, that has since been shared thousands of times on social media, shows a young woman being pinned to the floor by two male police officers.

The woman, named Patsy Stevenson, spoke to the Guardian newspaper on Sunday and said her arrest was unprovoked and the actions of the police that night were “disgraceful”.

Vigils organised by Reclaim These Streets appeared across South London, including one in Crystal Palace Park, to pay tribute to all women who have been hurt or threatened by men on London streets.

Candles and flowers were laid to remember Sarah Everard, Bibaa Henry, Nicole Smallwood, Kelly Stewart, Therasia Gordon and the many others.

The Duchess of Cambridge also made an unannounced visit to Clapham Common on Saturday to pay her respects to Sarah Everard because she “remembers what it felt like to walk around London at night before she got married”.

Demonstrators took to the streets on Monday to continue to protest over the police’s handling of the vigil and hundreds gathered outside Parliament and New Scotland Yard holding signs with the words “she was walking home” and “we will not be silenced”.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has since said he is “deeply concerned” about the police response and MP’s, including the London Mayor Sadiq Khan, have called for an investigation into the events that unfolded on the Common.

Council leaders from Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark have also criticised the Met Police’s “manhandling” of the women attending a vigil, calling it “utterly horrifying”.

Police are investigating reports that a woman who attended a vigil was flashed by a man as she made her way home but was not taken seriously when she tried to report it to officers on the ground.

Georgina Ashby told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I felt it was appropriate to go and tell them (the police) what had happened.”

The Met Police has defended its officers actions during Saturday’s vigil, claiming “hundreds of people were packed tightly together, posing a very real risk of easily transmitting Covid-19”.

There have been wider questions raised 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.

PC Wayne Couzens, 48, appeared at the Old Bailey via video link on Tuesday from Belmarsh prison and has been charged with the murder of Ms Everard.

Her body was found in a builder’s bag in woodland in Ashford, Kent on March 10 after she vanished while walking home from a friend’s house on March 3.