LONDON (AP) — London police acted unlawfully after they used coronavirus restrictions to stop a vigil in reminiscence of a murdered girl, a court docket dominated Friday in a victory for the occasion’s organizers and the proper to protest.
The protest vigil was referred to as after Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old London girl, was kidnapped and murdered in March 2021 by an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer as she walked dwelling at night time.
The crime shocked the nation, angered many ladies and raised questions on a police power that unknowingly harbored a assassin in its ranks. Police officer Wayne Couzens pleaded responsible to Everard’s homicide and was sentenced in September to life in jail with no probability of parole.
The group Reclaim These Streets tried to prepare a socially distanced vigil on the town’s Clapham Frequent, close to the place Everard was kidnapped. However the 4 foremost organizers canceled it after police advised them they confronted fines of 10,000 kilos ($13,000) every and doable prosecution for violating coronavirus restrictions.
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A spontaneous vigil went forward, attended by a whole bunch of individuals together with Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, the spouse of Prince William, who laid flowers. Police later moved in to disperse members, arresting some. Pictures of girls struggling with police and being led away in handcuffs sparked large criticism.
The 4 vigil organizers took the police to court docket, arguing the power’s selections earlier than the occasion breached their human rights to freedom of speech and meeting.
Two Excessive Court docket judges agreed, ruling Friday that by telling organizers the protest could be illegal, police “interfered with the claimants’ rights as a result of every (assertion) had a ‘chilling impact’ and made at the very least some causal contribution to the choice to cancel the vigil.”
The judges stated the police power “didn’t carry out its authorized obligation to contemplate whether or not the claimants might need an affordable excuse for holding the gathering.”
Theodora Middleton, a lawyer for the organizers, referred to as the court docket ruling “a victory for ladies” and stated it set “a strong precedent for protest rights.”
The police power stated it could think about whether or not to attraction.
Police dealing with of the Everard case was one in every of a string of controversies which have undermined public confidence within the power and led the pinnacle of the Metropolitan Police, Commissioner Cressida Dick, to announce her resignation final month.
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