British PM vows to act as outrage grows over abuse of women

LONDON • Britain's Prime Minister has vowed to take action to better protect women after a national outpouring of grief and outrage over the death of a woman who went missing after setting out to walk home in London earlier this month.

Mr Boris Johnson also promised several reviews into the policing of a vigil for the woman, Ms Sarah Everard, last Saturday night, after male officers were seen scuffling with and restraining female demonstrators - further souring the national mood.

Thirty-three-year-old Ms Everard was found dead days after she went missing on March 3. A police officer has been charged with her kidnap and murder.

Reclaim These Streets, which organised a protest that was eventually banned because of coronavirus restrictions, condemned the actions of officers "physically manhandling women at a vigil against male violence".

Mr Johnson, who was expected to meet his crime and justice task force yesterday to discuss violence against women, said London's police force and a watchdog would hold separate reviews into the handling of the protest.

"Like everyone who saw it I was deeply concerned about the footage from Clapham Common on Saturday night," he said on Sunday, referring to the London park where the protest took place.

London police chief Cressida Dick, who is facing calls to resign, told reporters that her officers had been put in a "really invidious position".

"They moved to try to explain to people, to engage with people, to get people to disperse from this unlawful gathering and many, many, many people did. Unfortunately, a small minority did not," she said.

Ms Helen Ball, another senior officer, said the force was duty-bound to keep people safe.

"Hundreds of people were packed tightly together, posing a very real risk of easily transmitting Covid-19," she said.

But the main opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, a former public prosecutor, called the scenes "deeply disturbing".

Four arrests were made for public order offences and breaches of coronavirus regulations, the police force said.

Ms Everard's disappearance and the huge search to find her helped to focus attention on women's safety in public places and the issue of male violence.

She had visited friends in Clapham and was returning home to Brixton, about 50 minutes' walk away, when she disappeared.

But one of Ms Everard's friends on Sunday warned that her death had become "hijacked".

"I think my friend would have been unsettled at how her death has been politicised," Ms Helena Edwards wrote in online magazine Spiked.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE