FOLLOWING the death of Sarah Everard, the issue of violence against women - and the police response to a vigil in her memory - continued to be debated by columnists and contributors in the newspapers.
The Daily Mail
Richard Littlejohn said the pictures of police officers pinning a young woman to the ground during a peaceful protest were the Met’s ‘George Floyd moment.’
“No one died, fortunately, but I defy anybody to look at those disgusting images without being overwhelmed by a stomach-churning sense of revulsion,” he said. “What the hell were they thinking? Who authorised this heavy-handed brutality?”
He said the Duchess of Cambridge’s presence at the scene earlier in the day demonstrated the depth of feeling women had at Sarah’s murder.
“The dreadful killing of Sarah Everard, allegedly by a copper employed to protect the public, has released a tsunami of demons normally suppressed by women,” he added. “So if young women, almost all of whom are at no risk from coronavirus, wish to gather on Clapham Common for a candelit vigil, let them get on with it.”
The Daily Express
James Whale said he was prepared to go on air last week and ‘call out the folly’ in Baroness Jones’ suggestion that men should abide by a 6pm curfew.
“ I decided to ask a few female chums of mine about their thoughts, including my opinionated friend Nanny,” he said. “I was completely astounded at their replies. None said they felt safe on their own when out at night and each one of them told me that they had had frightening and intimidating experiences with men.”
He is concerned that men feel they have a right to impose themselves on someone who isn’t interested, he said. “But I still think a 6pm curfew isn’t going to work. A very interesting point that [one caller] made was that it was always men who defended her against the creeps.”
The Guardian
Lady Shami Chakrabati, former shadow attorney general for England and Wales, said there had been many dark moments in Britain’s history of policing and protest - and the Clapham Common vigil response can be added to the list.
“That this brutal reaction to the women who gathered to remember her was presided over by the first female Metropolitan police commissioner and the fourth female home secretary is a bitter feminist irony,” she said. “It should be a reminder that we need to change how the system works, not just the faces that govern it.”
She said now the home secretary, Priti Patel, will seek a second reading for the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, which would grant the Met commander further power.
“The events on Saturday have made it clearer than ever that what is needed isn’t further police powers.”
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