[ad_1]
It’s a slightly windy Saturday afternoon at Clapham Common Park in South London last weekend.
We are in front of a small stage, the lockdown really prevails in London and the official memorial service has been canceled because the police have said no with reference to the covid restrictions.
But it is not forbidden to go to a park with another person and place a flower in front of a stage.
One by one the people go, mostly young women, but also men and families with children come up and put another flower, a real sea of flowers grows around the stage.
Some have written posters or cards and placed them among the flowers, in one it says: “Enough is enough”, in another “She was on her way home” and in a third “Sarah’s destiny is ours, our destiny is Sarah “. .
Anna Budd, who arrived on the scene with two friends, quotes one of the signs, “I am Sarah” and says that all young women living in the Clapham area can relate to what happened.
Yes, the terrible fate of Sarah Everard, 33, who disappeared in early March after being last seen on a street near the park where the memorial service is taking place, a week later found brutally murdered in a wooded area a few miles south. -West London- has found a nerve among many women in the UK.
– Could have been Any of us, we’ve all gone home on these streets at nine at night, says Lauren Pattersson.
When the murder and its circumstances became known, the ongoing debate about the royal family and Prince and Princess Harry and Meghan immediately disappeared. It’s about killings and women’s safety.
When night falls at 6 p.m., the atmosphere in the park slowly changes. A police helicopter begins to fly over the scene, a man with a large drum begins to drum rhythmically from the stage, the police spotlights around the circular scene light up, and more people approach.
A minute of silence is observed, but the quiet moment of the memory also becomes something more like a political demonstration.
– we have gathered here to remember Sara Everard, says the speaker and those who listened aloud return each phrase and slogans if the strength of the brotherhood is heard. There is also pent-up anger at the fact that the police in the area urged the women in connection with the murder to stay home and be careful.
People are getting closer and closer, a risk in these times of covid, the police believe, and obviously there are orders to try to interrupt the demonstration.
Burop is heard, “shame” is shouted at the police, riots ensue, three women and one man are arrested, photographs are taken showing two male police officers pushing a young woman against the asphalt, handcuffed and taken away to the anger of many people.
Already on Saturday night, everyone is upset by the actions of the police. Prime Minister Johnson is, Home Secretary Priti Patel demands a report from the London Police Chief as soon as the next day several political representatives demand the resignation of the Chief of Police.
But the London police chief, Cressida Dick, stands up for her police officers and says that it is easy to sit on the couch at home and judge the actions of police officers when you have not been there yourself. It also points out the difficulties of the police in handling and interpreting the “lockdown rules” that politicians have decided.
But with the events on Saturday, the debate over the safety of women in Britain is exploding, especially after images of male police officers pushing a young woman against the asphalt were taken around the world.
The connection becomes more sensitive because the alleged perpetrator of the murder is also a police officer.
The next day on sunday and even on Monday there are new demonstrations outside parliament. The outrage against the police among the more than 1,000 participants who defied all calls not to demonstrate is very great after Saturday’s events at the memorial service in the park. This time, however, the police allow the demonstrations, which are not allowed by the rules, to take place and remain largely peaceful on both Sunday and Monday.
– I hope this is not just a phase, that it is something of this, there are so many who are brave and come out and demonstrate now, says a woman in front of parliament, she wants to remain anonymous.
One of Sarah Everards Friends quietly point out in a newspaper article that it is now also important to remember Sarah’s person in everything and that she probably would not have been comfortable using her name so politically.
But the pressured government is scrapping some measures, like more money for surveillance cameras and better lighting in dangerous places, but critics see the problem as much bigger than that:
The BBC reports that only three percent of the more than 55,000 rape reports in the UK last year resulted in legal proceedings. That, the opposition demands, is a compensation figure that must be raised.
The upper house votes Through legislation that will make harassment of women receive greater penalties and propose that sexual harassment be classified as a hate crime.
There we are now.
The question now is what far-reaching consequences this week’s intense debate in relation to the murder of Sarah Everard will really have.
Anna Budd in the park last Saturday says no, this probably won’t change overnight, it’s just to keep pushing on this issue.
Daniel Alling, London.
