The Met Police has confirmed it is to appeal against the High Court’s ruling the force breached the rights of organisers of the vigil for Sarah Everard.
Scotland Yard came under fire for its 'heavy handed' response to the vigil in Clapham Common, London, last year when images of women pinned to the ground by male officers were widely shared.
Earlier this month the High Court found in favour of four women who founded Reclaim the Streets who brought the challenge against the force for its handling of the event.
The Met has now confirmed it is to appeal the decision to resolve “what is required by law when policing protests”.
It said in a statement: “Following the High Court judgement issued on Friday, 11 March the Met has taken time to consider with great care the decision itself and the wider implications for policing.
“It’s absolutely right that we are held to account for our actions and that there is proper scrutiny of the decisions we make as a police force in upholding legislation and maintaining public order.
“We also respect the strong views held by Reclaim These Streets in defence of human rights and public protest, and their pursuit of justice for these views.
“As an organisation we work with, support and police hundreds of protests and events across London every day, and take our responsibilities under the Human Rights Act in doing so, very seriously.
“It’s important for policing and the public that we have absolute clarity of what’s expected of us in law.
“This is why we feel we must seek permission to appeal the judgement in order to resolve what’s required by law when policing protests and events in the future.”
The Met had previously refused permission for the vigil to go ahead due to Covid laws in place at the time.
Wayne Couzens, 49, was jailed for life for raping and killing Ms Everard, 33, after he kidnapped her as she walked home in Clapham.
The Clapham Common vigil took place three days after Ms Everard's body was found in a Kent woodland in March last year
A spontaneous vigil and protest took place instead, with police making several arrests as they cracked down on the event.
Jessica Leigh, Anna Birley, Henna Shah and Jamie Klingler argued that decisions made by the force in advance of the planned vigil amounted to a breach of their human rights to freedom of speech and assembly.
"None of the (force's) decisions was in accordance with the law; the evidence showed that the (force) failed to perform its legal duty to consider whether the claimants might have a reasonable excuse for holding the gathering, or to conduct the fact-specific proportionality assessment required in order to perform that duty."
Lawyers representing the four told the court at a hearing in January that notes of a Met gold command meeting the day before the proposed event included a statement that "we are seen as the bad guys at the moment and we don't want to aggravate this".
Tom Hickman QC, representing the four, said in written arguments: "The most significant 'threat' identified was not public health but the perceived reputational risk to the (force), including in the event they were perceived to be permitting or facilitating the vigil."
