PHOTO: CHRIS BETHELL
The Metropolitan Police has charged four people for allegedly breaking lockdown rules last year for attending a vigil for Sarah Everard, who was murdered by a police officer. Hundreds of people attended the vigil at Clapham Common in March last year after Everard, 33, was kidnapped, raped and murdered by serving Met officer Wayne Couzens. During the event there were clashes between attendees and police, including some women being wrestled to the ground and arrested. An official vigil, organised by Reclaim These Streets, was called off after police threatened the group with a £10,000 fine and prosecution, but people turned up anyway. Two men and two women, Ben Wheeler, 21, from Kennington, Kevin Godin-Prior, 68, of Manchester, Dania Al-Obeid, 27, from Stratford and Vivien Hohmann, 20, of Clapham face a charge of participating in a gathering of more than two people in an outdoor place when London was under tier 4 covid lockdown restrictions.The charges follow a decision by judges to refuse permission for the Met Police’s appeal against a High Court ruling that said the force breached the rights of freedom of speech and assembly when it threatened Reclaim These Streets with a fine and prosecution.
