The Metropolitan police have told a women’s campaign group that they could face criminal prosecution and tens of thousands of pounds in fines if they organise a vigil for suspected-murdered London woman Sarah Everard.
Reclaim the Streets had said they had liaised with both Lambeth Council and the Met on “safely and legally” holding a vigil on Saturday at Clapham Common, near where 33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard was seen before she went missing on March 3rd.
While Sarah’s disappearance was originally treated as a missing person’s enquiry, her body was subsequently discovered and a serving London police officer has been arrested on suspicion of murder and other offences.
According to the anti-violence group, the police initially gave a “positive response” and said that it was looking into how to hold the event, which would have sister vigils at other cities across the country. But one of the Reclaim the Streets’ organisers, Anna Birley, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday that there had been an “about-face” and they were warned if they went ahead, they may face criminal prosecution because mass gatherings are prohibited under coronavirus restrictions.
“The Metropolitan Police have reversed their position and stated that the vigil would be unlawful, that their ‘hands are tied’ by the Covid-19 regulations and that, as organisers, we could face tens of thousands of pounds in fixed penalty notices and criminal prosecution under the Serious Crimes Act,” the group said in a statement and announced that it would be challenging the police at the High Court.
Human rights lawyers from Bindmans, Blackstone, and Doughty Street Chambers have asked for a court hearing on Friday afternoon, according to The Guardian.
A Met police spokesman told the Evening Standard that “we remain in discussion with the organisers about this event in light of the current Covid regulations.”
Current lockdown restrictions dictate that Britons stay at home for all but necessary purposes, with gatherings limited to few occasions such as funerals or for educational purposes. Those found to have organised gatherings of larger than 30 can be fined up to £10,000.
This is not the first time British police have challenged Britons attempting to mark solemn occasions during coronavirus restrictions.
In January, West Midlands Police fined relatives and mourners of those paying respects during the anniversary of the deadly IRA terror attacks in Birmingham in 1974. The bombings at two pubs resulted in the deaths of 21 people and the injuries of hundreds of others.
Police had said at the time they had issued “six penalty notices on the basis that the convoy and the meeting breached the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020”, with the statement continuing that “failure to pay the penalty could lead to prosecution.”
Two West Midlands MPs said the police were “morally wrong” to issue the fines. But the force reviewed the £200 penalties and claimed they were “proportionate”.
Sarah Everard went missing last Wednesday, and a serving police officer, named in the media as 48-year-old Wayne Couzens, has been arrested in connection with her disappearance. Police later found human remains in woodland 30 miles from Couzens’ home in Kent, which have been identified as Sarah’s.