Woman was ‘terrified’ during arrest at Sarah Everard vigil
A woman who was arrested at the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard has said she was “terrified” when she was pinned to the ground by police.
Images of student Patsy Stevenson being handcuffed and held down by two male officers sparked anger at Scotland Yard’s policing of the gathering in south London on Saturday evening.
“I was terrified.
“I have never been so scared honestly,” she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
“I think what was scary as well was as soon as I was pinned to the ground, I looked up and there were cameras everywhere.
“I was like ‘oh my God, this is big’.
“I didn’t realise they had even pinned me to the ground for a second.
Read on...
Support us and go ad-free“It just like happened so fast and then I was on the ground.
“I was like, I am on the ground, I am very small.
“I wasn’t resisting or anything.”
Stevenson said she went to the vigil to pay her respects to Everard, whose body was found in woodland in Ashford, Kent, last Wednesday – a week after she was allegedly kidnapped while walking home from a friend’s flat in Clapham.
She said she went on to the park’s bandstand because police officers “seemed to be sort of aggressively talking to the women” on there.
“We were trying to make sure, you know, video things and make sure there was no manhandling or anything was done,” she said.
“Then all of a sudden, there were quite a few police on the bandstand.
“Now it was distanced until the police came.
“On the bandstand there were about 30 police and they pushed us towards the edge of the banister that I was holding on to.”
Asked why she was restrained and arrested, Stevenson said: “To be honest I still don’t know why I was pushed to the ground so forcefully.
“I am quite small and it was two very large male officers who sort of pulled me back very quickly and then I hit the ground.
“From start to finish it was just a sort of whirlwind, it happened very quickly.
“I was only there to lay a candle down, I did not expect that to happen.”
Stevenson said she was released around 20 minutes after her arrest and given a £200 fine.
Support us and go ad-freeWe know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support
The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.
The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.
So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
Same happened to me at the poll tax protests in London during the 90s’, I was on my way home from a night shift and as soon as I exited the tube station I was pounced upon, arrested, charged with disorder, fined and released with-in an hour !
I never paid the fine and left the country, I knew the Thatcherite totalitarian state would remain for some time but I hadn’t anticipated this long…….
Self-exiled and incredibly happy Brit.