Reclaim These Streets celebrated the Judges’ decision last Friday, claiming it to be a ‘victory for women’.

Two High Court senior judges have ruled that the Metropolitan Police breached the rights of the organisers of the Sarah Everard vigil in March last year.

In March 2021, Reclaim These Streets (RTS) had organised a socially distanced vigil for Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered by Metropolitan Police Officer Wayne Couzens when walking home from a friend’s house in south London.

However, it was called off after the Met police threatened the organisers with a £10,000 fine each and potential prosecution, claiming that hosting the event at that time would breach Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Although the original vigil was cancelled, a spontaneous gathering took place in Clapham Common, near where Ms Everard went missing on the evening of 3rd March 2021. The event had a turnout of over 1,000 people, who attended to pay their respects to the 33-year old and protest about the prevalence of gender-based violence in society. 

The demonstration was peaceful, but the mood quickly changed as police were seen physically restraining and arresting people at the event. Video footage of the police’s heavy handling soon went viral on social media platforms, and the Met Police received backlash for their actions.

Cressida Dick, who was the Commissioner of Met Police at that time, was criticised for the force’s actions at the vigil, with many urging her to resign. 

A violation of freedom of speech

RTS planned the vigil for Ms Everard, but also for “all women who feel unsafe, who go missing from our streets and who face violence every day”.

At an event that intended to allow women to voice their concerns about the police force’s exploitation of power and women’s lack of safety, the aggressive response of the police felt all the more insulting. 

The founders of RTS, Jessica Leigh, Henna Shah, Jamie Klingler, and Anna Burley, took legal action against the Met Police for the way they handled events at the vigil.

At the hearing, which took place at the High Court in January of this year, the four women stated that the Met Police’s decisions in the run up of the vigil breached their right to freedom of speech and assembly. The claimants also argued that the police failed to assess the potential risk to public health and safety. 

The Met’s failure to perform legal duties

On Friday, two High Court judges ruled that the decisions of the Met Police last year were “not in accordance with the law”.

Lord Justice Warby said that the force "failed to perform its legal duty to consider whether the claimants might have a reasonable excuse for holding the gathering, or to conduct the fact-specific proportionality assessment required in order to perform that duty”.

He also stated that the Met’s relevant decisions “were to make statements at meetings, in letters, and in a press statement, to the effect that the Covid-19 regulations in force at the time meant that holding the vigil would be unlawful.

"Those statements interfered with the claimants' rights because each had a 'chilling effect' and made at least some causal contribution to the decision to cancel the vigil."

The Met Police defended themselves against RTS’ claim, arguing that there was no exception for the protest to go ahead given the Covid-19 restrictions that were in place back in March last year. They also released a statement shortly after the court’s final judgement, commenting that they were ‘considering very carefully’ their decision to appeal the case.

A triumph for Reclaim These Streets

In celebration of the outcome at the Royal Courts of Justice on Friday, Theadora Middleton, who represented RTS, released a statement on behalf of her clients.

Ms Middleton stated: "Today's judgement is a victory for women.

"Last March, women's voices were silenced. Today's judgement conclusively shows that the police were wrong to silence us.

"The decisions and actions by the Met Police in the run-up to the planned vigil for Sarah Everard last year were unlawful and the judgement sets a powerful precedent for protest rights.

 "We came together one year and one day ago to organise a vigil on Clapham Common because Sarah Everard went missing from our neighbourhood. We felt sad and afraid.

"We were angry that women still weren't safe and we were tired of the burden to stay safe always weighing on our shoulders."

 But many still demand ‘radical change’ to the Met Police. A day after the court ruling, protesters took to the streets of London to mark one year since the vigil, marching from New Scotland Yard (Metropolitan Police headquarters) to Charing Cross police station. The demonstrators set off 1,000 rape alarms and blue flares, whilst chanting “racist police, sexist police”. 

Fears are now growing amid the proposal of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. If passed, police will be granted the power to assert tighter controls over protests. Many believe this will put a ban on freedom of speech and authorise police to take extreme measures to keep these rules in place.

If you believe your right to freedom of speech and assembly has been breached, or you’d like to see policy change, you too should consider taking legal action.

At Find Others, we understand that exercising your legal rights alone can be daunting, so we’ve made it easy for you to find other people who have faced the same issue. Unite, campaign, and take action today using our free tools.