Reclaim These Streets vigil planned for Clapham Common tonight at 6pm is cancelled after talks break down

A vigil on Clapham Common this evening in response to the disappearance nearby of Sarah Everard has been cancelled by the organisers because of the threat they face of being fined under the Serious Crime Act.

Reclaim These Streets planned to hold the event at the common’s bandstand tonight, Saturday at 6pm, near to Poynders Road, on the South Circular, where the 33-year-old, whose body was formally identified on Friday, went missing.

But organisers said despite their attempts to work with police to make sure the vigil could go ahead safely, they now felt it could not.

The group tweeted: “Update: We are sorry to confirm that our Clapham vigil scheduled for tonight is cancelled.”

In a statement, the group said the decision was because of a “lack of constructive engagement from the Metropolitan police” and said that Scotland Yard “would not engage with our suggestions to help ensure that a legal, Covid-secure vigil could take place”.

The statement added: “We have made every effort to reach a positive outcome that applies proportionality, so that we could find an appropriate balance between our right as women to freedom of assembly and expression with the regulations set out in Covid regulations.

“We have been very disappointed that given the many opportunities to engage with organisers constructively the Met police have been unwilling to commit to anything.”

Instead, the group aims to raise £320,000 for women’s causes, with hopes to raise “£10k for every proposed fine for the 32 vigils originally scheduled”.

A fundraising page set up this morning, Saturday, has raised more than £50,000 in about three hours.

A statement on the fundraising page read: “We were told that pressing ahead could risk a £10,000 fine each for each woman organising. Even if we came to this amazing community for help in meeting those costs, we think that this would be a poor use of our and your money.

“We do not want to see hundreds of thousands of pounds contributed to a system that consistently fails to keep women safe – either in public spaces or in the privacy of their homes.”

One organiser, Anna Birley, said the group could not proceed “in part because of the massive individual risk that gives us as organisers and that we don’t want to be putting women at risk of fixed-penalty notices”.

“All the women across the country who are seeking to organise their own events too are at risk of criminal prosecutions from the Serious Crime Act, which is what we’ve been threatened with,” she said.

Organisers said details of a virtual gathering would be announced later today, Saturday.

Last night a high court judge refused an application by Reclaim These Streets to make “an interim declaration” that any ban on outdoor gatherings under coronavirus regulations was “subject to the right to protest”.

The Met police urged people on Friday to “find a safe alternative way to express their views”.

Some campaigners still encouraged people to gather at Clapham Common. Sisters Uncut, which campaigns to prevent violence against women, tweeted they “will still be attending tonight’s event in memory of Sarah Everard and all those killed by gendered and state violence”.

They also said: “We are angry. We will not be controlled. We will not be silenced.”

The Met’s lead for community engagement, Commander Catherine Roper, said yesterday: “Like everyone across London, I have been deeply saddened and shocked by the death of Sarah Everard. My heart goes out to her family, friends and everyone who had the joy to know her.

“No woman in London should be unsafe on London’s streets and I understand the strength of feeling that has grown following Sarah’s disappearance. As a woman and a police officer, I want nothing more than for women to feel safe and protected by the police.

“But we need to be clear. Our city is still in a battle with Covid-19 with people continuing to be infected and sadly losing their lives. Only a few weeks ago our NHS was at breaking point. We cannot risk undoing all the hard work to reduce the infection rate.

“Today’s ruling in the High Court has confirmed that the Metropolitan Police may conclude that attendance at a large gathering could be unlawful. In light of this ruling, our message to those who were looking to attend vigils in London this weekend, including at Clapham Common, is stay at home or find a lawful and safer way to express your views.

“I understand this ruling will be a disappointment to those hoping to express their strength of feeling, but I ask women and allies across London to find a safe alternative way to express their views.

“Throughout the pandemic, we have consistently enforced the Covid regulations and have made difficult decisions during a range of gatherings on issues about which people have felt very strongly. Our hope has always been that people stick to the Covid rules, taking enforcement action is always a last resort.

“We continue to speak with the organisers of the vigil in Clapham and other gatherings across London in light of this judgement and will explain the rules and urge people to stay at home.

“We will have a number of officers on duty in communities throughout London during the course of this weekend.”

Peckham’s Labour MP Harriet Harman, chair of the joint committee on human rights, said the dispute between police and organisers showed the government needs to clarify the regulations on demonstrating during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The law on this should be made clearer,” she said. “The relationship between the Human Rights Act and its protection of freedom of association and the new Covid regulations has not been clearly spelt out.

“The police’s response, to do a blanket ban – to say we can treat everybody equally by stopping all freedom of associations – is not the right way to go about it.”

The chair of the Commons women and equalities committee, Caroline Nokes, who had previously said she had asked the home secretary, Priti Patel, to “step in” to permit the vigil, said she hoped people would now gather virtually instead.

The Conservative MP said: “It is important that women come together. We can do that virtually and recognise the ongoing issue there is with violence against women and girls, perpetrated by men, but do it in a Covid-safe way.”

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Nokes also called for greater action from the government over violence against women and girls.

“The message I am giving back to government is ‘do something, do something meaningful, or my committee will be holding your feet to the fire over why not’,” she said. “I want to see positive, determined action from the government.”