Badly tone deaf decision to refuse the vigil resulted in indefensible police actions

It was a Badly tone deaf decision to refuse the vigil there must be consequences

Who could have predicted that police refusing a vigil for a woman kidnapped & murdered by a high level police officer in that same force – who was only in London because he had been on duty, and was only on duty because the police had failed to suspend/arrest him for an indecent exposure reported 3 days prior by two women, in the context of decades and decades of police not taking VAWG seriously, would lead to something that was not actually a vigil but actually a protest against the police which attracted all the other people who hate the police including the usual A.C.A.B. lot…

Well, apparently not the met police…. which is a bit worrying…

This was a peaceful gathering hijacked by the police

The actions of the police have united politicians from across the spectrum in condemning the “outrageous” behaviour of police for their poorly thought out tactics after they moved to break up the vigil held to commemorate Sarah Everard.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has said she has asked Scotland Yard for a “full report” on what happened amid criticism of its handling of a London vigil in memory of Sarah Everard.

As calls for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick’s resignation began to surface, London Mayor Sadiq Khan acknowledged that officers’ handling of the Clapham Common meeting was at times clearly “not appropriate nor proportionate”.

Mourners became angry after police tried to forcibly remove speakers from the bandstand at the south London park. 

Disgraceful doesn’t cut it. We should all march tomorrow pic.twitter.com/HI4KquVrBW

— Liam Young (@liamyoung) March 13, 2021

The contrast in policing this event alongside other mass gatherings was telling. The police’s heavy-handed treatment of the women present at the vigil prompted comparisons to the events of the previous weekend when police were seen standing by while Rangers fans trashed the city’s George Square. No one can deny the best tactic would have been discretion.

The essence of “police discretion” is that when using the law police officers are authorised based on the presumption that they make choices. The best choice on occasion would have been to allow the gathering to fizzle out naturally taking photos and video of any incidents that broke the law other than the gathering itself, later if necessary a cautioning or an arresting could have taken place safely. Not that this was needed in this gathering of women showing solidarity and morning the senseless murder of another woman.

Dawn Foster

Staff Writer at @JacobinMag. Twitted: The Met have been a shitshow tonight, but any journalists tweeting as though this is the first time they’ve behaved appallingly do an incredible disservice to Jean Charles de Menezes, Ian Tomlinson and many, many others.

The Met have been a shitshow tonight, but any journalists tweeting as though this is the first time they’ve behaved appallingly do an incredible disservice to Jean Charles de Menezes, Ian Tomlinson and many, many others.

— Dawn Foster (@DawnHFoster) March 13, 2021

There are many questions to answer about the murder of Sarah Everard not least why PC Wayne Couzens was not arrested and suspended after reports that three days earlier on February 28, before Ms Everard disappeared, the Met Police received an allegation that Couzens had exposed himself in front of a woman at a fast food restaurant in south London.

Despite the complaint, it is understood he continued to work.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said that it will investigate whether the Metropolitan Police responded ‘appropriately’ after receiving a report of indecent exposure in front of a woman working in a south London takeaway restaurant on February 28. Sources told The Daily Mail the allegation may not have reached ‘command level,’ so Met colleagues were unlikely to be aware of it – meaning Couzens was able to continue working as an officer right up until his arrest.

Sarah Everard disappeared while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on Wednesday March 3.

A policeman, 48-year-old Wayne Couzens, has been arrested and charged in connection with the crime.

Couzens will stand trial for kidnapping and murder.

Labour is now to vote against Priti Patel’s anti-protest crackdown plan

The Party had previously planned to abstain on the bill, but Shadow Home Secretary David Lammy said Labour MPs would be told to oppose the “poorly thought-out measures”

The legislation that was going to fly through is now meeting objections and the none opposition are no longer abstaining, Labour will oppose Priti Patel’s plan to hand more powers to police to crack down on protests.

#ReclaimTheseStreets, #SarahEverard, #PatelMustGo, #DickOut