"Hundreds defy ban to attend Clapham vigil"

I watched what should have been a reflective vigil on live stream. It was after midnight when the police took the arrested individuals back to the vans.

I'm extremely surprised to hear that. The timeline from what I experienced was this:

Women are arriving in dribs and drabs throughout the afternoon. More women start to gather as it gets closer to 6pm. At 6pm two women from Sisters Uncut go onto the bandstand and start reciting poetry, reciting names of women murdered by male violence, and call for a minute's silence. Male police go onto the bandstand to arrest them and frogmarch them away. This happened approx 6.15pm.

The police arresting the speakers caused other people to go onto the bandstand, which police encouraged and allowed. At some point the police formed a human wall around the bandstand, kettling the women on the bandstand. Driving women onto the bandstand appeared to be a deliberate act by the police. Between 6.30-7.30 protestors (mostly women sitting quietly on the floor) were kettled in the bandstand while police tried to fight the crowds of mostly peaceful women. At this point some members of the crowd started to lead anti-police chants, which others took up in outrage at witnessing police violence and hostility towards peaceful vigil-attendees.

Patsy was thrown to the ground and arrested at 7.24pm. (I checked the time stamp on my own video.)

The bandstand was completely cleared by 7.35, except for press who were permitted to remain.

Police then released some of the women, and started to move other arrested women towards the van. They put someone/some people (couldn't see who) into the vans, and at that point the vast majority of police left and almost all the police vans left. This was about 8pm.

By 8.15pm all but a half a dozen police had gone (and those half a dozen stood in a huddle some distance from the bandstand), and the vigil proceeded with no police presence and was completely peaceful. No one was chanting or giving speeches, just women quietly lighting candles and paying respects.

Between 8.30-9pm most people had started to make their way home and the Common was empty. I left around 8.45 and it was almost deserted at that point.

I don't know what happened after that point but I'm very surprised to learn there was more action hours later. Certainly all the women who'd been arrested at the actual protested had either been released or taken away in vans hours earlier. So it's not true that they waited five hours to put the arrested women into vans.

If anything kicked off after midnight then I honestly doubt it had anything to do with the vigil at all.

I know there was a separate incident at the Windmill (which is clear on the opposite side of the common) where a police van wing mirror was damaged. It's unclear whether that had anything to do with the vigil.

The only violence towards police I witnessed was the four male anti-maskers shoving police (they were not arrested) and one single police van had "ACAB" drawn on it. No other abuse or violence. No abuse from any of the women.

Trying to pretend that women mouthing off is "verbal abuse" is just shocking - you should have heard some of the nasty and disrespectful comments the police were making from the very start of the vigil, including during the minute silence!

This idea that the police will suddenly kick off and incense a gathering out of their own volition is ridiculous.

That is absolutely what happened.

When police officers tried to remove people from stamping on flowers for Sarah they refused.

The only people who stamped on the flowers were the police! The protestors were the ones trying to protect the flowers from being trampled by police. The police officer who wrote this is a liar, period.

On a completely different subject: it would be really great, and show even greater respect, if instead of just putting flowers wrapped in cellophane at the site of a vigil people took the wrapper off before they placed them. The people who clear them up after they have stopped looking at their best will be very grateful: inside the plastic, they rot and become disgusting, outside it nothing like as much.

I still remember gas-masks being worn by people who cleared up the remains of the memorials from outside Kensington Palace in 1997 after the death of Diana. They were supposed to betaken and given to hospitals and the like, as were the teddy-bears and other tributes, but all too many of them were fit for nothing and couldn't even be composted because of the plastic mixed in with them.

That's lovely. And sad.

Powerful words from comments on an UnHerd article:

"I didn’t go last night.
I wanted to. Wanted to join in with others who felt so personally connected to this loss, this crime.
I didn’t go. Planned to. Wanted to show my daughters the strength of female solidarity.
But as soon as the victim’s family asked people to stay away, I felt I couldn’t. Because at that point, the nature of the event had changed.
Instead of this being a moment to reflect on this loss, it became a tool for people to air their political grievances. An opportunity for grandstanding and self-publicity.
I went today.
All the trampled flowers replaced. Women laying their Mother’s Day bouquets. Men, women, children. The young and the old. Quietly paying tribute. No megaphones, no speeches. No agitation, no aggression.
Watching the images of last night was extremely disturbing. But being there today was humbling. A collective sense of wanting the world to be a better place, and the question of how our society has deteriorated to such a degree. Sadness, but also hope.
I want my daughters’ futures to be in the hands of those present today. Not the police of last night. And not the girl with the red hair.

I agree with every word.

Utterly, utterly false.

She’s a University student. She was clearly still really upset when I saw her interviewed this morning on GMTV

Yes we get it you're on their side. Patsy couldn't care less about Sarah Everard, she and her cronies have their own agenda. As the sky reporter pointed out 'you didn't look very distressed' If she didn't have the mask on I swear she'd have been pouting at the camera

@Keeping2ChevronsApart

Professional protester? In what sense?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine
NotTerfNorCis

Thanks for confirming what I suspected. I cannot believe they are supporting a serial rapist Nicola Cope who died in prison.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3074229-Inquest-into-death-of-transgender-woman-found-dead-in-her-cell-at-mens-prison

Very good piece on woman's hour today about all this.

Also noting the image of an arrested woman splashed across papers was white.

I understand, it is very frustrating.
Such a shame for it to end as it did.

Sorry, that wasn't shouting at you... It is sheer frustration that the police have tried to connect 2 groups to justify their violence

That that fake account from a police officer circulating on Facebook just sums it all up... They didn't have any grounds or justification to do what they did, so they put out an official statement full of lies ("objects were thrown at police" - didn't happen) and then write a few anonymous fake accounts to do the rounds on social media...

Posted too soon, she came across quite badly and didn't seem too bothered that a friend of Sarah's has said Sarah would not want this at all.

Ok. Like I said I dont know the area no need to shout.
Im just disputing the earlier post claiming arrests and damage happened after midnight as you have done yourself.
The spray paint was there 8.15 latest.

Pasty Stevenson is being interviewed on sky news now

The wing mirror and spray paint on the van was well before midnight.
I dont know the area but was watching on live stream and on a group chat with my cousins and sisters, 8pm they had arrested a man in a black hoodie, 10 or 15 minutes later they got him to the van and you could see the damage to the van then.
Acab sprayed on the side and wing mirror smashed.
Such a shame what should have been a peaceful vigil for Sarah has been ruined by some less than savory elements and the reaction of the police which could and should have been avoided.

The arrests all took place around 9:30pm
By 10:30pm the bandstand area was pretty deserted and all the police were back in their vans, which were parked up along the avenue and by the snack van

@vdbfamily

The moral wrong is the covid 19 legislation. We need to abolish it all.

A policeman friend of mine shared this on FB.

From a female police officer

Damned if they don't, damned if they do, an account by a female police constable present....

Tonight’s Virgil for Sarah. A female officers point of view..

It started with mainly only female officers overlooking a civil vigil. When numbers grew and social distancing ceased more officers were called.
When police officers tried to crowd control and remove people from stamping on flowers for Sarah they refused. Then it kicked off
Then I saw people being arrested and my colleagues being assaulted when trying to transport said prisoner.
Then I saw our vehicles being vandalised with spray with the word ACAB and a mirror being smashed.
Then I thought what would Sarah’s family think about this?
Then I saw and heard my colleagues being abused. They were called murderes, rapists, a female colleague was told it should have been her. And we were told to arrest each other. This is not ok.
Sarah’s family and friends have been so gracious under the circumstances. I do not believe they would want this to happen. If it was me I would not want this to happen. Stop think and be civil we are all humans and we all are angry at what happened. We do not need more violence.
I am a woman. I am a police officer. I am very proud of being both. This week has me exhausted. Physically from the job and mentally by all this.
We are not at fault for what happened because if we knew we would have done what we could to stop it.
To finalise this rant, to my colleagues: I am proud of you. You were insulted beyond what we are used to. We stand by our uniform, we’re proud to carry this warrant card so we can uphold the great office of Constable. Thank you for being there today hope you are all ok. ♥️

Not sure if this has been shared somewhere. Janice Turner's comment in the Times:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/478788d6-84e7-11eb-9186-403d3ffc3950?shareToken=81d667f2e9424409854f3c7c8ed5cbd6

And a short comment in Melanie Reid's Scotland section comment:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7d0dab14-8516-11eb-9186-403d3ffc3950?shareToken=9e37d749c585980a09f22488e7d0e6e1

Actually I know the person who posted this very well and within the post they tagged the actual source (female police officer) who then in return thanked them for sharing her very own post so shove that up your pipe and smoke it