Reclaim These Streets organiser criticises Met over Sarah Everard vigil policing
30 March 2021, 17:52 | Updated: 30 March 2021, 18:02
One of the organisers of the Reclaim These Streets campaign has criticised the Met Police's handing of the Sarah Everard vigil, despite a review finding they acted appropriately.
The review by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has found the Metropolitan Police was "justified in adopting the view that the risks of transmitting COVID-19 at the vigil were too great to ignore when planning for and policing the event".
Prior to the review, Met Commissioner Cressida Dick had faced calls to resign over the policing of the event.
Asked by LBC's Shelagh Fogarty for her response to the review, Jamie Klingler said: "They interviewed us collectively for about 10 hours and [they] were 10 hours that we could have spent doing actual good work because we clearly weren't listened to.
HM Inspector of Constabulary on Sarah Everard vigil policing review
"The Met created a much bigger storm of publicity around the vigil and forcing us to cancel.
"We had all the plans in place. They didn't use any of our stewards. They didn't activate any of those plans. So it was basically pouring kerosene on this."
She later added: "We weren't there but we all saw the pictures [and\ we all saw the videos.
Watchdog backs police handling of Sarah Everard vigil
"And there's a huge amount of work to be done now to regain the trust of the women of this capital because I was dismissed at every turn."
Ms Klingler also said: "We saw the pictures. We saw the videos. Anybody that thinks that [the police] weren't manhandling women didn't see the same evidence that I saw."
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