U.K. to Tighten Protest Rules After Sarah Everard Vigil Is Marred by Violence

The U.K. parliament is set to debate a new law that will clamp down on the right to protest, after London police were criticized for their handling of a vigil over the weekend for a murdered woman that turned violent.

Legislation due before the House of Commons on Monday will feed into the controversy over the death of 33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard, who disappeared on March 3 after walking home at night through a park in south London.

The government and London Mayor Sadiq Khan called on the Metropolitan Police to explain why what was supposed to be a peaceful gathering to raise awareness about crimes against women turned chaotic, with images of male officers pinning down female protesters.

“I do want to draw a very firm distinction between the peaceful vigil that yesterday was intended to be and some of the very, very disruptive protests that we’ve seen in recent years where we’ve seen people gluing themselves to buildings and gates and stopping members of the public from going about their business,” Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins said Sunday on the British Broadcasting Corp.’s Andrew Marr show. “The bill tomorrow is very much focused on the later category.”

The legislation will restrict the use of noise at public gatherings and impose new controls for those assembling around the parliament building. It also includes measures that would strengthen protection for women against sexual offenses and would force those convicted of rape to serve more of their sentence in jail.

Ministers moved to restrict protests after demonstrations by Black Lives Matter and the environmental group Extinction Rebellion in previous years snarled traffic and disrupted commuter trains. In more recent months, police have been asked to break up gatherings banned to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“Enforcement action was necessary” at the event on Saturday because “hundreds of people were packed tightly together, posing a very real risk of easily transmitting Covid-19,” Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said in a statement. “A small minority of people began chanting at officers, pushing and throwing items.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel called the scenes “upsetting” and asked the police to explain what went wrong. Lawmakers in the Labour opposition said they’d oppose the policing bill, which is due for a debate and its first vote in the Commons on Monday.

“The policing of the vigil for Sarah Everard last night was unacceptable,” David Lammy, the Labour member of parliament who leads on justice matters, said on Twitter. “This is no time for the government to impose disproportionate controls on the right to protest.”

Brian Paddick, a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords and former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, faulted officers for banning the demonstration on Clapham Common.

“If you ban a vigil like this, you are going to attract more people,” Paddick told the BBC. That “resulted in people who were looking to cause trouble” turning up to the event. “That could have been prevented if police had negotiated” with the organizers.

The Home Office’s Atkins said the government asked the Law Commission for advice on how to widen hate-crime legislation to add protection for women. She said the panel is looking at wording that could make misogyny a crime, something Labour is pushing for.

“The experiences that women have expressed have been absolutely shocking,” Atkins said separately on Sky News. “I genuinely believe this could be a moment of change.”

She said more rules were needed on protests to “ensure that democracy can continue” to function during mass gatherings. “There have been occasion where access to parliament has been made very difficult,” Atkins told Marr.

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