The Metropolitan police will appeal against a high court ruling that they breached the rights of the organisers of a planned vigil for Sarah Everard in their handling of the event.
The Met said it had “taken time to consider with great care the decision itself and the wider implications for policing” and planned to appeal against the ruling “to resolve what’s required by law when policing protests and events in the future”, in a statement published on Friday.
The ruling last week was hailed as a “victory for women”. The four women who founded Reclaim These Streets had brought a legal challenge against the Met over its warning that they would face fines of £10,000 each and possible prosecution if the socially distanced event they were planning to mourn Everard and protest against violence against women went ahead. Instead, a spontaneous vigil and protest took place.
Jessica Leigh, Anna Birley, Henna Shah and Jamie Klingler said that the force had breached their human rights to freedom of speech and assembly, and that it did not assess the potential risk to public health.
Everard, 33, was murdered by a serving Met officer, Wayne Couzens. The vigil was to be held near to where she went missing in Clapham, south London, in March last year.
The Met’s statement said: “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.”
On Friday night, Klingler condemned the force’s decision to appeal and urged it to “learn the law”. She wrote in a tweet: “I’m not going to pretend I am not furious. I was stood outside of Stoke Newington police station when I heard they filed permission to appeal. They want us to give up. They want to exhaust us. Fuck that. Learn the law.”
