Reclaim These Streets vigil for Sarah Everard planned at Minster

The vigil outside the cathedral in York is being planned for 6pm tomorrow, and is said to be a 'York Vigil for Sarah Everard and for all women who feel threatened on our streets.'

Reclaim These Streets York said in a statement this afternoon that it was planning both an in person event and a virtual event, and 'whether it will be one or the other will depend on the decision of the court case.'

It said that should it go ahead in light of the court judgement, it would:

1) Encourage everyone to wear masks 

2) Ask everyone to socially distance 

3) Look at chalking out spacing to ensure distance

4) Provide anti-bac wipes and sanitiser for anyone using equipment such as megaphones

5) Make announcements to remind everyone of distancing

It said: "To clarify, this is not a gathering but a vigil, to commemorate Sarah’s life and bring awareness to issues which all women face, often on a daily basis and often ignored.

"We are extremely aware of the risk of Covid-19, but are doing everything we can to both mitigate this risk and provide a space where we can collectively grieve."

It added: "A decision taken by the court to rule against the vigils taking place, will be a decision taken against women to assert their rights and a decision to silence us."

Downing Street has said Boris Johnson “completely understands the strength of feeling” around Sarah Everard’s disappearance but urged people to abide by the coronavirus restrictions when asked about a proposed vigil.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “He understands the strength of feeling around this case and nobody could fail to be moved by the experiences shared by many women since Sarah’s disappearance.

“We are still in a pandemic, we would ask people to follow the rules and social distancing rules but we do understand the strength of feeling on this issue.”

Pressed again for his position on the protest, the spokesman said: “He does completely understand the strength of feeling on this and we would ask that people continue to follow the rules and social distancing rules.”

The Press has asked North Yorkshire Police and the Minster for comment but neither organisation has responded as yet.

In London, a Reclaim These Streets group has said it will seek an order in the High Court today challenging the Metropolitan Police’s interpretation of the restrictions when read against human rights law.

The vigil, due to take place at Clapham Common bandstand in south London on Saturday, was organised after the suspected kidnap and murder of York woman Sarah Everard sparked anger over the safety of women on the UK’s streets.

In statement tweeted yesterday evening, Reclaim These Streets said it was “organised by a group of women who wanted to channel the collective grief, outrage and sadness in our community”.

“Our plan was to hold a short gathering, centred around a minute of silence to remember Sarah Everard and all women lost to violence,” the statement added.

Under the current Covid-19 lockdown in England, people are largely required to stay at home and can only gather in larger groups for limited reasons, such as funerals or for education.

Police can break up illegal gatherings and issue fines of £10,000 for someone holding a gathering of over 30 people.

Reclaim These Streets said it was “always aware of the challenges of organising a Covid-secure vigil, but safety has been a top priority from the beginning”.

It claimed: “When we initially proposed the event, we proactively reached out to Lambeth Council and Metropolitan Police to ensure that the event could safely and legally take place.

“After initially receiving a positive response, we continued to plan and promote the event and continued to update the Council and Police.

“The Metropolitan Police said that they were ‘trying to navigate a way through’ and that they were ‘currently developing a local policing plan’ to allow the vigil to take place and to enable them to ‘develop an appropriate and proportionate local response’ to the event.

“Since this statement, the Metropolitan Police have reversed their position and stated that the vigil would be unlawful and that, as organisers, we could face tens of thousands of pounds in fines and criminal prosecution under the Serious Crimes Act.”

The group said it had taken advice from human rights lawyers who it claimed viewed that “the Metropolitan Police are wrong in their interpretation of the law and that socially distant, outdoor gathering of this kind are allowed under the current lockdown regulations, when read together with the Human Rights Act”.

Lawyers have written to the force challenging their interpretation of coronavirus legislation, the Reclaim These Streets statement added.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Caitlin Prowle said if it was to lose its legal challenge then it would have to cancel the event and explore other options.

She added: “If we lose we will be facing quite significant fines and we will also be putting anyone who wants to come along at risk of fines as well.”

Ms Prowle said that during planning for the vigil the Metropolitan Police’s “tone changed quite quickly” and that the group’s claims on its alleged reversed position relate to correspondence with the force.

Reclaim These Streets has launched an online fundraiser to raise £30,000 that it said it might need to cover potential legal costs.

This target was stretched to £40,000 as it was rapidly exceeded on Thursday night.

If the group wins its legal challenge it said it would donate the money to a women’s charity.

Its statement concluded: “We’ve all been following the tragic case of Sarah Everard over the last week.

“This is a vigil for Sarah, but also for all women who feel unsafe, who go missing from our streets and who face violence every day.

It said by “forcing us to cancel” the vigil, the police would be “silencing thousands of women like us who want to honour Sarah’s memory and stand up for our right to feel safe on our streets”.

A Metropolitan Police statement said: “We understand the public’s strength of feeling and are aware of the statement issued by Reclaim These Streets with regard to a planned vigil for Sarah Everard in Clapham Common this weekend.

“We remain in discussion with the organisers about this event in light of the current Covid regulations.”