The event would be “unlawful”
Organisers of the vigil in tribute to Sarah Everard, ‘Reclaim These Streets’, have been told by the Met Police that the event would be in breach of Covid restrictions.
The organisers are going to the High Court after police labelled the event “unlawful.”
On Twitter, Reclaim These Streets said: “Police want us to pull the event and are threatening to prosecute organisers. We’re working with human rights lawyers to challenge this, but we need your help.”
URGENT UPDATE: police want us to pull the event and are threatening to prosecute organisers. We're working with human rights lawyers to challenge this, but we need your help 👇👇#ReclaimTheseStreetshttps://t.co/HLkvZ4fNwK pic.twitter.com/NboEaFGLs0
— Reclaim These Streets (@ReclaimTS) March 11, 2021
The Charity Organisation ‘Reclaim These Streets’ has reached its £30,000 target for lawyer funds.
The event, which nearly 10,000 people have responded to on Facebook, would violate Covid restrictions, the Met Police have said.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMSvNfzD1Q2/
The vigil was organised by a charity organisation, following the disappearance of Sarah Everard on 3 March. The event aimed to make women feel safer on the streets of London.
Similar vigils were organised in Walthamstow, Cambridge, Cardiff, Liverpool and Leeds.
Speaking on BBC’s Radio 4’s Today programme, an organiser of the London event said: “We were being put under increasing pressure that individually, we would be at risk for doing so, but as would everybody who attended and all of the women across the country potentially who have been organising sister vigils in their own areas.”
She said that the organisers had told attendees to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines.
“Our plan was to hold a short gathering, centred around a minute of silence,” the organisers said.
The Met Police would be “silencing thousands of women” who want to “stand up for our right to feel safe on our streets” if they cancel the London vigil, the organisers said.
