A maskless Kate Middleton laid daffodils from Kensington Palace during an emotional visit to Sarah Everard’s memorial in South London on Saturday, because she remembers what it was like to walk around London at night, it is understood.
The Duchess of Cambridge made the visit to Clapham Common on Saturday afternoon close to where the 33-year-old went missing, to pay her respects to Ms Everard and her family in the wake of the marketing executive’s murder.
The duchess visited a bandstand in the park where she added to the dozens of floral tributes that have been placed for Ms Everard by mourners, whose body was formally identified on Friday.
She was seen pausing in front of the sea of tributes placed around the bandstand, which have grown substantially in the last day. As well as flowers, the memorial also features signs, with the duchess seen near a sign reading ‘I am Sarah’.
It is understood Kate, who was seen not wearing a mask despite coronavirus measures, also made the visit in part because she remembers what it felt like to walk around London at night before she married Prince William.
The unexpected visit came after a planned vigil was cancelled, with organisers citing the Met Police’s ‘lack of constructive engagement’ to help make it Covid secure. Instead, officers gathered in force this evening to break up the growing crowds.
Kensington Palace said Kate (pictured) ‘wanted to pay her respects to the family and to Sarah’, reported Sky . ‘She remembers what is was like to walk around London at night before she was married,’ the palace added
The unexpected visit came after a planned vigil was cancelled, with organisers citing the Met Police’s ‘lack of constructive engagement’ to help make it Covid secure
The Duchess of Cambridge visits Sarah Everard’s memorial stand
Vigils had been organised across the UK in memory of Ms Everard, as well as to urge that more is done to tackle violence against women.
Organisers Reclaim These Streets announced that a vigil planned for Saturday in Clapham Common had been cancelled and said a ‘virtual gathering’ will take place instead.
A fundraiser set up by the group for women’s charitable causes was less than £10,000 away from its £320,000 target as the virtual gathering began shortly after 6pm.
Reclaim These Streets has also encouraged people to join a doorstep vigil at 9.30pm, with the group saying it would be joining people across the country and ‘shining a light, a candle, a torch, a phone, to remember Sarah Everard and all the women affected by and lost to violence’.
However, hundreds of people defied police requests to gather at Clapham Common on Saturday evening as others held virtual vigils in memory of Sarah Everard.
Some clashes broke out as emotions ran high at the gathering in south London, close to where 33-year-old Ms Everard disappeared.
Kate Middleton makes her way to Sarah Everard’s memorial in Clapham
Hundreds of mourners defied social distancing to gather at Clapham Common on Saturday night, around a bandstand where dozens of floral tributes have been placed for Ms Everard, whose body was formally identified on Friday
The vigil was planned for Saturday in memory of marketing executive Sarah Everard, who disappeared while walking home to Brixton on March 3
Officers surrounded the bandstand, where people have laid flowers, and members of the crowd could be heard shouting ‘shame on you’.
An official vigil was cancelled – as were others across the UK – due to coronavirus restrictions, but a virtual event was held at 6pm in which campaigners called for more to be done to tackle violence against women.
A minute’s silence was held and candles were lit during the online vigil hosted by Feminists of London, with television presenter Sandi Toksvig calling for Ms Everard’s death to be a ‘turning point’.
In Clapham, one video posted online showed officers grabbing women standing within the bandstand before leading them away, to screaming and shouting from onlookers.
Campaign group Sisters Uncut, which had representatives present at the demonstration, claimed that ‘male police officers waited for the sun to set before they started grabbing and manhandling women in the crowd’.
A group of women hug as they stand in front of tributes for Sarah Everard
Two women weep at the Sarah Everard shrine
A woman was pinned to the ground as she was handcuffed by officers in Clapham Common on Saturday evening
Fights broke out as people battled against police officers on Saturday evening in Clapham Junction
The Metropolitan Police was criticised for its policing of the gathering, with one MP describing it as ‘heartbreaking and maddening to watch’.
Labour’s Sarah Owen added: ‘No one can see these scenes and think that this has been handled anything but badly by @metpoliceuk. It could and should have been so different.’
Charlotte Nichols, shadow minister for women and equalities, tweeted: ‘If @metpoliceuk had put the resources into assisting @ReclaimTS to hold the covid-secure vigil originally planned that they put into stopping any collective show of grief and solidarity (both through the courts and a heavy-handed physical response), we’d all be in a better place.’
Opening the online event, television presenter Sandi Toksvig said she had never ‘felt more passionately concerned about my kids’.
She said: ‘It surely cannot be asking too much to want them simply to be free, to walk where they like, when they like.
‘I am filled in equal measure with profound sorrow and rage, and I know there are many who share this rage and I think it is entirely justifiable. But I also know that it will harm rather than help us if we don’t try and direct that anger to good purpose.’
Police attempt to break up a vigil for Ms Everard at the bandstand on Clapham Common
Police officers blocked people from accessing the bandstand as those in the crowd held up candles
Women shouted at police as they gathered near the bandstand in Clapham Common this evening
She added that it was not a ‘small change’ that was needed, but a ‘cultural shift about how women are viewed and treated both in the public and private space’.
‘This has to be a turning point where ending violence finally becomes a political priority,’ she said.
Mandu Reid, the leader of the Women’s Equality Party, echoed these sentiments, adding: ‘The way to truly honour Sarah and every other woman we’ve lost is to demand that politicians of all stripes treat violence against women and girls as a political and policing priority.’
She said: ‘The pain and poignancy of this moment lies in the devastating fact that all women and every girl lives under the perpetual threat that what happened to Sarah could happen to any one of us.
‘The reality for women and girls is that the harassment we experience, which is as omnipresent as the air we breathe, could escalate at any time.’
Reclaim These Streets, which had planned to hold the Clapham vigil before it was cancelled, also urged people to take part in a doorstep vigil at 9.30pm on Saturday, with the group saying it would be joining people across the country and ‘shining a light, a candle, a torch, a phone, to remember Sarah Everard and all the women affected by and lost to violence’.
They added: ‘We aren’t just lighting a candle for the women we’ve lost: we have been inspired by the women who have reached out and hope this is just the start of a movement that will light a fire for change.’
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would light a candle for Ms Everard with his fiancee Carrie Symonds, adding that he would be thinking of the 33-year-old’s family and friends.
‘I cannot imagine how unbearable their pain and grief is. We must work fast to find all the answers to this horrifying crime,’ he said.
The bandstand was surrounded by flowers laid three-foot deep as people gathered for a vigil
An anti-lockdown protester interrupted a vigil for Sarah Everard in London this evening.
The unknown man stood on a bandstand surrounded by hundreds of bouquets of flowers and other tributes left for the marketing executive.
He shouted: ‘We should be free to move, to visit friends, to be on the streets.’ The rest of his words were drowned out by the crowd.
The unknown man (pictured) stood on a bandstand surrounded by hundreds of bouquets of flowers and other tributes
Photographs show the moment the man was escorted away from the vigil by a number of police officers
He was met with a chorus of shouting as mourners told him: ‘This isn’t about you’.
One woman screamed: ‘A woman has died.’
Others told him to shut up, with one man adding ‘it’s about women you idiot’ before batting away another man’s hand as they tried to calm him down.
Photographs show the moment the man was escorted away from the vigil by a number of police officers.
‘I will do everything I can to make sure the streets are safe and ensure women and girls do not face harassment or abuse.’
Home Secretary Priti Patel said she would also be lighting a candle, and added that almost 20,000 people had responded in 24 hours to a consultation on how the Government could tackle violence against women and girls.
‘That is completely unprecedented & we will carefully consider responses,’ she tweeted.
The Duchess of Cambridge was among those to visit the make-shift memorial at Clapham Common on Saturday to pay her respects, and was seen pausing in front of the sea of flowers.
Meanwhile, a fundraiser set up by Reclaim These Streets for women’s charitable causes passed its target of £320,000 on Saturday evening.
On Friday, a High Court judge refused to intervene on behalf of the group in a legal challenge over the right to gather for a protest during coronavirus restrictions.
On Saturday, the group said that despite their attempts to work with police to ensure the Clapham vigil could proceed safely, they now felt it could not go ahead.
Organisers said they had made ‘many suggestions’ to police, including splitting the event into different time slots – but that they were told going ahead with a vigil could risk a £10,000 fine each for each woman organising.
A number of police forces across the country also issued statements urging people not to attend the in-person events, instead encouraging people to move online.
A vigil planned for Ms Everard’s home city of York was cancelled and organisers urged people to post a photo of a candle in their window or doorway, while events in Coventry and Birmingham were also cancelled.
The fundraising target of £320,000 by Reclaim These Streets was set to mirror the fines which might have been issued had the vigils gone ahead, with the aim to raise £10,000 for each of the 32 vigils which organisers said had been scheduled.
Caitlin Prowle, from Reclaim These Streets, said the group had not wanted to end up in a situation they were having to raise funds to pay fines, rather than for charitable causes.
She said the money would ‘just go straight back into a system’ that ‘continues to fail’ women.
Read More: DailyMail