Women were already angry when they attended the vigil for Sarah Everard on Clapham Common – but now, they're furious.
A day that began with an emotional visit from Kate Middleton, who said she "remembers what it's like to walk in London alone", ended in violence and arrests.
Revealing what it was like to experience the shocking scenes firsthand, Darcy*, 23, who was at Clapham Common on Saturday, tells VT that "a quiet sense of solidarity and respect" quickly devolved into a situation where she felt "unsafe".
"This past week has been really upsetting and draining," she continues. "It's brought up memories for me, where I've repeatedly been made to feel unsafe in public by men. Every woman I know and care about has been harassed or assaulted. It shouldn't have taken a woman being murdered for this conversation to be had."
The vigil was intended to be a peaceful affair, with one Twitter user later pointing out: "it was just women and flowers".
It was a chance to grieve the loss of one of their own: a woman who was simply trying to walk home. After dusk, just half an hour after a minute's silence was held for Everard, they were met by aggression and hostility by a largely-male police force.
"There was no tension until they arrived," Darcy says of the night, which culminated in now-viral videos and photos showing women aggressively being grabbed by male police officers.
Commenting on the situation, Darcy says: "Given that it's a Met police officer that's been charged with the crime, you'd think that they would have made a concerted effort to build trust with us. So for them to invade our space when all we were doing was speaking, grieving and voicing our anger was upsetting.
"They caused disruption where there wasn't any. It made it something that was aggressive, violent and scary. I felt really unsafe. I can't understand the reasoning for that, because if they'd let us gather and say our peace, that would have been it. I can't see how they can justify their actions."
In total, four women were arrested at the event, which was officially cancelled by authorities 24 hours before it was due to go ahead because of COVID-19 restrictions. Those who attended did so with the knowledge they could be fined.
"There was a sense of solidarity and togetherness before it got dark," Darcy continues. "We were just speaking about protecting each other and our right to be safe. We were chanting back so that the people behind us could hear what was going on. When the sun went down, the police decided to go onto the bandstand to stop the women from talking – that's when people started booing and chanting, 'Let her speak'."
The police's use of force towards women at the vigil has since been widely condemned, online and in parliament.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "deeply concerned" by footage recorded at the vigil, while opposition party leader Kier Starmer said the response was "disturbing". A government advisor on violence against women added that the Met's defence of its actions was "from the handbook of abusers"
The Metropolitan police have since released a statement defending their officers' actions. Police Chief, Cressida Dick – who yesterday said she had no intention of stepping down amid calls for her resignation – claimed that police acted because they were concerned about the spread of Covid-19. As a woman, she would have gone to the vigil if it had been lawful, she continued.
Many of those who attended the unofficial vigil were already distrusting of police after it was revealed that serving Metropolitan Police officer, Wayne Couzens, 48, had been charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard. The marketing executive's body was found in woodland near Ashford, Kent, on March 10th, in builders' bags. During a court hearing on Saturday, March 13, it was revealed that she had to be identified by dental records.
A post-mortem examination has taken place but no cause of death has been officially announced. Kent County Council has said that an inquest into Everard's death is likely to be opened later this week, per the BBC.
Home Secretary, Priti Patel, and Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, have since dismissed Dick's explanation as "unsatisfactory", and an independent inquiry by the policing inspectorate has been ordered. The results will be delivered in a fortnight.
The tragic case has dominated social media ever since missing person posters of Sarah Everard started going viral on social media following her disappearance on March 3. It has prompted an onslaught on women to come forward regarding their own experiences of sexual harassment and assault, with the hashtag #ReclaimTheNight trending on Twitter.
The news coincided with a new report released by U.N. Women UK, which showed that a staggering 97 per cent of women aged 18-24 in the UK said they had been sexually harassed, while over 70 per cent of women of all ages in the nation said they had experienced sexual harassment in public.
Darcy – like many other women across the nation – counts herself within this statistic.
