The head of the Metropolitan Police has said she does not intend to resign over her officers’ actions during a vigil in memory of Sarah Everard on Saturday night.
Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick had been facing calls to step down after clashes between police and crowds who gathered on Clapham Common night to remember the 33-year-old.
Speaking on Sunday evening, Dick said: “What happened to Sarah appals me. As you know, I’m the first woman commissioner of the Met, perhaps it appals me, in a way, even more because of that.
“What has happened makes me more determined, not less, to lead my organisation. I’ve listened to what people have been saying in the last week, I know that in the streets all across the UK women don’t feel as safe as we would all like women to feel. I am utterly determined.”
“My view is, I’m entirely focused on growing the Met to be even stronger.”
Officers from the Metropolitan Police were seen grabbing several women and leading them away in handcuffs during the vigil on Saturday.
The force later said four people were arrested for public order and coronavirus regulation breaches.
But there has been condemnation of the policing of the vigil, which centred around a bandstand covered in flowers left in tribute.
Home secretary Priti Patel has said the Metropolitan Police still have “questions to answer” over the vigil and has read the Met’s report on the event.
In the interests of “ensuring public confidence in the police” she has asked Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to conduct a “lessons learned review”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called on Dame Cressida to resign earlier on Sunday, while Women’s Equality Party co-founder Catherine Mayer said her position was “untenable”.
But Keir Starmer backed her remaining in post.