Quite a few of the local events and the Clapham events were targetted by the SWP, Sisters Uncut and Women's Strike.
All of them have a polical practice which is to piggy back on events where it is likely to be easy to provoke the police. This isn't to say I am an out and out police supporter but because of their "rules" they fall into the trap every time.
Nice respectful vigil. Nobody getting gobby. Then some people decide there should be speeches (the original planned vigil didn't include this). People cant hear. They crowd forward. Police think crowd control. They ask someone sitting down to move. They dont. After the 4th or 5th time (in the rule book) they arrest the non compliant person. Who goes floppy. Standard street protest tactics. The individual is a woman and everyone is shocked to see what are normal police tactics for someone who goes floppy. But not floppy enough to stop her raising her head so that a good photo can be taken. She is later released having given her name and address.
In the spirit of the event and to prevent people being crushed why wouldn't you just move? Because you have an agenda as part of women's strike. You also happen to be an aspiring actress easy to trace on a quick casting web site. And you are a member of Women's Strike. (See other thread where someone is making out she is a hero)
And they know that the MSM love it. The photo op. The screaming headlines. We have these empty rituals all the time.
But these entryist groups have got what they want. Their agenda is now the main talking point policing. And even though that overlaps with women's safety the vigil was to protest male violence, on the street, in the home and so on.
So now the organisers are pushed into making a statement about policing.
So just as they got trapped on twitter into saying all money raised would only go to trans inclusive groups (thereby excluding those women's refuges, rape crisis centres and BME groups that are women only) they have now had to expand their position to include one on policing.
This is about confrontational male politics. However well intentioned the orginal group was, if you are politically niave and or believe that all women are behaving without malice (except "terfs" or course who you are allowed to disbelieve) in no time at all your uniquely woman based group has its focus dissappated. (Think WEP and others)
Women still haven't learnt or perfected a way of organsing that gives women a voice but doesn't follow male patterned confrontation.
And I am not sure if there is any postive way forward from this as so many have reacted to the image of a woman being manhandled by the police. And the MSM is pushing this and now politicians are feeling they have to comment as well.
Footnote: Women's Stike by the way is the new name for what was Wages for Housework. WfH were notorious for acting like cuckoos is women's groups. They even put out a press statement once claiming that a national Women's Liberation Conference was their conference. They helped break up what had been Greenham Common Women.