Grief and rage over the murder of Londoner Sarah Everard should be channelled into efforts to stop men’s violence against women, not into political arguments about police tactics at a vigil, one of the women arrested at the event said on Monday.
Everard, 33, was abducted as she walked home in south London on March 3 and a police officer has been charged with her kidnap and murder, provoking a national debate over how British society deals with male violence against women.
But the political focus shifted onto London’s Metropolitan Police after officers tried to disperse a vigil for Everard on Saturday, saying it breached COVID-19 lockdown rules. They scuffled with mourners and dragged women away in handcuffs.
Under intense pressure over the ugly scenes, the head of the force, Cressida Dick, rejected calls for her resignation, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he had full confidence in her.
Patsy Stevenson - who was pictured being pinned to the ground, handcuffed and arrested by male officers in dramatic images that became a lightning rod for anger against the police - said on Monday she was dismayed at the turn of events.
-I accidentally went viral. I didn’t want this to happen. This happened like a whirlwind- she said on Sky News.
-I’ve been thrown into the public eye and the only way I can make this not in vain is to not make it political, not against the police. It’s just about the safety of women and we need to talk about it- she said.
An estimated 85,000 women are raped and more than 400,000 sexually assaulted in England and Wales each year, with only a tiny fraction of incidents leading to criminal convictions.
The most recent figures showed the conviction rate per rape allegation recorded by the police was 2.6%, a record low.