Met Police’s commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has insisted she will not resign and has backed her police officers’ response to the handling of Saturday’s unlawful Sarah Everard vigil. While Priti Patel has ordered a full report into the force’s handling of the gathering and thousands have protested outside Parliament today.
Sadiq Khan says he is ‘not satisfied’ with the explanation given by the Metropolitan Police leadership over the handling of Saturday night’s Clapham Common vigil, while Ms Patel described footage from last night as ‘upsetting’
Thousands have signed a petition calling for Cressida Dick’s resignation, which has been described by the Women’s Equality Party as as ‘untenable,’ while others say the commissioner, who was appointed in 2017, should ‘consider’ her leadership at Scotland Yard.
This afternoon she defended her role, saying: ‘We’re still in a pandemic, unlawful gatherings are unlawful gatherings, officers have to take action if people are putting themselves massively at risk.’
Asked if she was considering resigning, she said: ‘No, I’m not.’
Asked if she felt she owed an apology to her frontline officers, Dame Cressida said: ‘I feel for my officers, I feel for them every day.’
Ms Patel has now asked Sir Thomas Winsor, Chief Inspector of Constabulary, to conduct a ‘lessons learned’ review into the policing of the vigil for Sarah Everard on Clapham Common on Saturday, a Government source says.
After gathering outside the police headquarters today, demonstrators moved to Parliament Square where they staged a lie-down protest and chanted against the police, the government and Cressida Dick.
Protesters briefly moved to Trafalgar Square, before holding another march back to Parliament Square this evening.