London – Protests against gender-based violence continued in London on Monday, as hundreds marched from outside Parliament around the city shouting “united sisters will never be defeated”, “justice for Sarah” and “killing the bill”.
“We don’t just want excessive policies and more police officers abusing their power over women, we want effective action,” said Jennifer, 25. “We want money spent on women’s services, we want a cultural change that protects women and fights against misogyny and violence.”
The demonstration follows two days of protests over the death of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, whose body was found last week after she disappeared while walking home on the well-lit streets of London in the evening. The man accused of killing Everard is a police officer who was reported for indecent exposure just days before Everard’s death.
Activists initially called for a remote social vigil on Saturday, but permission for vigil was denied because Britain is currently under blockade of the national coronavirus. That didn’t stop hundreds of people, especially women, from appearing in a park near where Everard was last seen in south London. After about an hour, the police moved heavily into the peaceful crowd, eventually arresting four people, including two teenagers.
The protests also highlighted the actions of the London Metropolitan Police, which officials, including London Mayor Sadiq Khan and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, have criticized and amplified pending national legislation, which civil liberties groups say that it would increase police power to curb protests.
Fears of not being able to demonstrate whether he would pass the law prompted a number of people and groups to join Monday’s protest.
“It’s our last chance, potentially, to express our views with freedom of speech,” said 19-year-old Haley, who noted that Black Lives Matter and climate activists Extinction Rebellion came out on Monday.
“We try to say everything we can before we are silent,” she said.
Everard’s murder has sparked a national debate about violence against women and how it is being treated in Britain. The UK currently has record levels of rape trials, despite an exponential increase in rape reports in recent years.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson convened a meeting of the government’s Crime and Justice Working Group on Monday to discuss its strategy on violence against women and why rape trials are so low. The UK police chief should also hold an emergency meeting on the issue.
Anger rose rapidly as police handled Saturday’s rally and thousands took to the streets of central London on Sunday in protest.
“I learned one thing this weekend: the right to protest, the right to assemble, the right to have a voice are fundamental to our democracy and, in particular, to British democracy,” former police officer Sir Peter Fahy told a local radio station. . “You have to be really careful about the fact that more legislation will be passed just because some politicians didn’t like certain demonstrations in the summer,” he said.
HANNAH MCKAY / REUTERS
“I find it outrageous that the police, the Metropolitan Police, who killed Sarah – they killed her – and they tell us that we are not allowed, we are not allowed to come and show solidarity. They killed her,” Alexandra , 26, told CBS News on Saturday night’s demonstration.
“We’ve all experienced some kind of sexual violence or some kind of aggression or feeling insecure, and that’s enough,” Sarah, 32, told CBS News about Saturday night. “This must be a turning point, so that we do not accept to feel scared, to feel intimidated and to be able to live our lives freely, as our male counterparts can do.”