About twenty people gathered at the Clock Tower last night, including one token man (and a dog!). There were some placards for Reclaim the Night and #SarahEverard, and everyone had a lantern or candle in a jam jar. Liz brought a bunch of flowers.
That's me, in black - photo taken by Emanation.
At 6.14pm, Ellie Spencer said a few words about us gathering to remember women who had been victims of violence, and we held a minute's silence.
We were there for roughly fifteen minutes, and even in that time we got shouted at by some young yob in a passing car.
After the minute's silence we did a circuit around Hay - the ladies serving at the two takeaway vans in the square applauded us.
I didn't speak to everyone there, but everyone I did speak to had their own stories about times they had been sexually assaulted (often on public transport) or violently assaulted - one woman had gone to the police after she was attacked and injured, and they did nothing.
So it was horrifying to see reports online later that night of what happened at the vigil at Clapham Common, where the police were the ones perpetrating the violence. A similar vigil in Nottingham, for instance, was completely peaceful. How are women in London supposed to feel safe when they are beaten up and arrested for gathering peacefully to remember a woman who has been murdered? The excuse given was Covid regulations, but other protests have happened without police intervention during lockdown.
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