Sofia police are looking to further try to challenge the Supreme Court’s ruling that officers violated the rights of Sarah Everard’s vigil organizers last year.
Earlier this month, Supreme Court judges denied Met’s permission to appeal his March decision on the force’s handling of the planned event.
However, Scotland Yard said on Friday that it is now seeking permission from the Court of Appeal to challenge the Supreme Court’s decision.
The Reclaim These Streets (RTS) campaign group, which hosted the March 2021 event in South London, criticized the force, tweeting: “We can now announce that @metpoliceuk is spending more taxpayer money to keep fighting us in court.
“Despite the Supreme Court’s fierce rejection of their” hopeless “application for permission to appeal, they are now trying to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
“Will it never end?”
In response to RTS’s tweet, Met Police said her call was not focused on police surveillance of the vigil itself, but on decisions and communications with RTS before the event.
The forces said: “The reason we are appealing this case is that we believe there are important points of principle about the role of the police in advising organizers before a proposed event and whether this should include an assessment of the importance of the cause.
“We believe that clarity on these issues is of paramount importance both to citizens and their right to freedom of expression and to the police in the way they impose legal restrictions, while remaining neutral on the cause behind the event itself.
RTS initially offered a socially vigilant vigil for 33-year-old Everard, who was killed by Metropolitan Wayne Cousins near the place where she disappeared in Clefham, south London, in March last year.
The four women who founded RTS and planned the vigil have filed a lawsuit against the event’s management force, which also aimed to protest against violence against women.
RTS withdrew from organizing the vigil after the forces told them they would be fined £ 10,000 each and possibly prosecuted if the event took place.
Instead, however, a spontaneous vigil and protest was held, attended by hundreds of people led by the Sisters Uncut direct action group. It culminated in clashes between police and protesters and accusations of brutal police.
RTS founders Jessica Lee, Anna Burley, Henna Shah and Jamie Klingler say decisions taken by force before the planned vigil violate their human rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and say force does not assess potential risk for public health.
In a March ruling, their claim was upheld by Lord Judge Warby and Judge Holgate, who found that Metropolitan’s decisions on the eve of the event were “inconsistent with the law”.
After examining a paper application – without a hearing – from the Met to challenge the decision in the Court of Appeal, the judges refused permission.
However, the forces are now asking the appellate court itself to give permission to challenge the decision.
Add Comment