DAMAGES paid to a woman brutally arrested at a Sarah Everard vigil will be split with pro-Palestine protesters “who have also been victims of police.”
The Metropolitan Police has agreed to pay £10,000 in damages to Jennifer Edmunds, who was detained and charged with breaching Covid restrictions at the Clapham Common gathering on March 13 2021.
The charges were dropped 15 months later and Ms Edmunds sued the police for breaching her human rights, false imprisonment, assault, misfeasance in public office and malicious prosecution.
She said she will split the compensation with pro-Palestinian protesters “who have also been victims of police.”
Ms Edmunds expressed relief at the case finally coming to an end, but voiced concern at seeing the “state clamp down yet further on our collective freedom to assemble and demand change.”
The Met faced backlash for how it handled the vigil, which was held to mourn the murder of Ms Everard by police officer Wayne Couzens.
Organisers Reclaim These Streets were forced to cancel the event after they were threatened with a £10,000 fine.
But by the evening hundreds had gathered regardless. Attendees were bundled to the ground by police and four were arrested.
Ms Edmunds’ solicitor Erica San said: “The Met’s heavy-handed and insensitive policing of the Clapham Common vigil was a reflection of the institutional misogyny that the Casey Review sought to expose.
“The fact that it has taken three years to acknowledge the wrong done to Jeni — as with the many other cases which were brought after the vigil — is a sign of how deeply reluctant the force is to face its pressing need for reform.”
A Met spokesperson insisted that the officers “acted in good faith” and according to “the operational directions given by the relevant command teams.”
“The settlement that has been reached does not alter that position and the Met has no intention to revisit it.”
Commenting on the case, Jamie Klingler, co-founder of Relcaim These Streets, said: “The Met learned nothing from their handling of the vigil and did the same and worse to rape volunteers during the coronation.
“It’s astounding to me how little has been learned and how little transparency the Met is required to have for their blatant waste of public money.”
