The organisers of the vigil for Sarah Everard are taking the Metropolitan Police to court over its handling of the event.
Four founders of Reclaim These Streets, who organised the vigil on Clapham Common on March 13, say the Met’s handling of the event breached their human rights.
Despite initially organising the vigil, the group withdrew from it after police said it would be an unlawful gathering and said the organisers could face fines of up to £10,000 each.
The event went ahead anyway, and police faced sharp criticism for their heavy-handed tactics as they handcuffed female attendees.
In a letter released ahead of the hearing, Reclaim These Streets said it hoped the court would agree its members’ human rights had been breached by the Met’s refusal to allow the protest.
“If we succeed, this will set an important precedent – not only on policing during the pandemic, but also on the importance of the police not using high level decisions parliament has made as a reason to evade their human rights responsibilities,” the group wrote.