Boris Johnson has urged members of the public not to breach lockdown restrictions by attending a planned vigil for missing-feared-dead London woman Sarah Everard.
The Reclaim These Streets event is scheduled to go ahead on Saturday on Clapham Common, one of the locations Ms Everard is believed to have walked through before her suspected kidnap and murder.
As well as marking the death of the 33-year-old, the event was tipped as an opportunity to reclaim the space amid a broader national conversation about the safety of women and girls in public areas at night.
Asked whether the prime minister would advise people to steer clear of the event to avoid the risk of spreading Covid-19, Johnson’s official spokesman said: “We must urge people to remember that we are still in a pandemic and ask that they continue to follow the rules.
“We would ask the public to continue to follow social distancing rules, but we do understand the strength of feelings in this case.”
Under lockdown rules currently in place across England, it is against the law to leave your home except for a short list of reasons, including work, education, childcare, exercise or recreation with one other person, compassionate visits, essential activities like buying food and attending support groups of up to 15 people.
Police can issue £200 Fixed Penalty Notices to people meeting in large groups, doubling for further offences up to a maximum of £6,400. Organisers of an illegal gathering can be fined £10,000.
A spokeswoman for the group organising the vigil said it plans to appeal to the high court to challenge the Metropolitan Police’s interpretation of coronavirus restrictions with regard to human rights law.
They claimed that while initially the force had appeared supportive of the vigil, they later withdrew their support – warning organisers that they would face fines of tens of thousands of pounds in fixed penalty notices as well as criminal prosecution.
In statement, Reclaim These Streets said: “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.”
But they said that on Thursday, the Metropolitan Police “reversed their position and stated that the vigil would be unlawful, that their ‘hands are tied’ by the Covid-19 regulations and that, as organisers, we could face tens of thousands of pounds in fixed penalty notices and criminal prosecution under the Serious Crimes Act.”
The group added: “We have decided to seek an urgent order from the High Court confirming that the Metropolitan Police’s understanding of the law is wrong.”
The request for an order was expected to be heard on Friday ahead of the planned vigil in the evening.
The Met was not immediately available for comment.
Reclaim the Night marches and rallies have taken place in the UK since 1977, when the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group sought to use the events as a direct response to the serial murders of Peter Sutcliffe – also known as the Yorkshire ripper.
In a statement on their website, organisers of the event said: “We believe that streets should be safe for women, regardless of what you wear, where you live or what time of day or night it is. We shouldn’t have to wear bright colours when we walk home and clutch our keys in our fists to feel safe”.
“It’s wrong that the response to violence against women requires women to behave differently. In Clapham, police told women not to go out at night this week. Women are not the problem.”
