A vigil was held last night on Clapham Common to both honour the memory of Sarah Everard and to protest about the societal backdrop to her death. People were told to stay away by the police beforehand – they came anyhow. Unfortunately, the whole thing turned ugly as the London Met responded in a heavy-handed manner, clashing with those who attended, leading to at least five arrests. What made it all the worse was that the Duchess of Cambridge showed up at the vigil, giving it the feeling of an occasion that should have been tolerated.
The reaction for some to this incident will be, ‘They were told to stay away’; that those who attended the vigil did so knowing they were going against a public order. I think this response ignores two big issues.
One is that the feeling about what happened to Sarah Everard is deep and widespread, particularly in London and even more so amongst women who live in the capital.
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