Police handling of Sarah Everard vigil appropriate, says watchdog

The Metropolitan Police acted “appropriately” at the Sarah Everard vigil in south London earlier this month, the police watchdog has found, saying that the risk of Covid transmission was too great to ignore.

Their report was ordered after widespread outrage over scenes of officers grappling with mourners as they dispersed the crowd.

But the inspectorate also said public confidence in the Metropolitan Police suffered as a result, calling media coverage of that night a “disaster” on an international scale.