“It turned very scary, very quickly”
Women came together at a vigil in Clapham to mourn the death of Sarah Everard, who was taken from the streets of London on March 3rd, and her body subsequently found last week after the arrest of a suspect.
Photos of women being pinned down by police at the south London vigil have been circulating on social media since Saturday evening.
One woman, who was tackled to the ground by two police officers at the vigil, said she was left feeling ‘terrified’ by the event.
Photos of Patsy Stevenson being restrained by the Met police have gone viral and been used on the front pages of major newspapers.
— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) March 13, 2021
Stevenson appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning to share her experience of the vigil.
In her first TV interview since being pinned to the ground by police at the vigil for Sarah Everard, Patsy Stevenson spoke exclusively to GMB.https://t.co/yVhWBm7iSE
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) March 15, 2021
Speaking on GMB, Stevenson said: “I still don’t know why I was pushed to the ground so forcefully. I’m quite small and it was two very large male officers who pulled me back very quickly as I hit the ground.”
“I was only there to lay a candle down. I did not expect that to happen,” she said.
Stevenson said that people were social distancing and the area was not packed full of people “until the police came”.
She said police began to talk to women on Clapham bandstand aggressively, before pushing them to the bandstand railing. Stevenson recalls seeing around 30 police officers on the bandstand.
She said one police officer was trying to get his hand around the neck of a woman who was standing near her on the bandstand.
“We were terrified, because we hear about police manhandling women,” she said.
When GMB host Susanna Reid asked how she felt as she was pinned down, Stevenson said: “I was terrified. I’ve never been so scared.”
During the interview, Stevenson made clear that she is not ‘anti-police’.
She said: “I fully understand that the police have to do their job. I am not against police.
“But, you know, the organisers were trying to get it so that the police were involved in a safe way and make sure everyone was maintaining social distance.
“All we wanted was for women to be able to mourn and share each other’s company in a safe space.”
It turned “very scary, very quickly,” she added.
London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan condemned the images that surfaced from the vigil.
He said: “The scenes from Clapham Common are unacceptable. The police have a responsibility to enforce Covid laws but from images I’ve seen it’s clear the response was at times neither appropriate nor proportionate. I’m contact with the Commissioner & urgently seeking an explanation.”
The scenes from Clapham Common are unacceptable. The police have a responsibility to enforce Covid laws but from images I've seen it's clear the response was at times neither appropriate nor proportionate. I'm contact with the Commissioner & urgently seeking an explanation.
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) March 13, 2021
