Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has said she will not resign amid growing calls for her to step down over her department’s “disturbing” response to a vigil for Sarah Everard.
Speaking on Sky News, Ms Dick said she felt “more determined, not less” to lead the organisation following criticism of the force following the event in Clapham Common on Saturday night.
Video livestreamed from the vigil showed police officers forcibly removing women from a bandstand in the park, while officers could also be seen pushing back demonstrators at the event. Four people were arrested.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has ordered multiple investigations into the Met Police’s handling of the event and said he was left “not satisfied” by a response from Ms Dick on why police cracked down on Saturday’s vigil the way they did.
Home secretary Priti Patel has also requested a review.
On Sunday afternoon crowds gathered outside Scotland Yard for a vigil demanding an end to violence against women and to condemn the police response.
Demonstrators then converged on Parliament Square, with many protesting against the government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill with chants of “Kill the Bill” and placards reading “Times up Priti”, “End state violence”, and “Abolish the police”.
Police officers stood guard outside Downing Street and the statue of Winston Churchill but otherwise held back from intervening in the way they did at Clapham on Saturday. The Metropolitan Police said no arrests had been made during the demonstrations in Westminster.
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