A SERVING police officer, a supposedly trusted public figure and protector of people, has been charged with the murder of a young woman taken in the prime of her life. 

This horror resonates so deeply with so many women who have been abused and hurt by men claiming to be our protectors. 

This is why so many of us felt compelled to go to Clapham Common on Saturday. 

We wanted to be together, to stand together in solidarity as women and most of all we want the world to change. 

We want an end to the abuse and violence against women because far too many of us are injured or die at the hands of our own husbands, our own partners and our own brothers and fathers. 

Far too many of our children carry the scars of being subjected to years of domestic violence. 

At the same time domestic abuse services and refuges desperate women fleeing from violence rely on are being defunded and shut down.   

The vigil for Sarah Everard went ahead in spite of the police failing to engage with the organisers — and no wonder women have had enough. 

The hypocrisy of the state has been staggering during the course of the pandemic. 

On the one hand gatherings that are a source of comfort for people are restricted but on the other hand schools have thrown their doors open and so many people are forced to attend unsafe workplaces. 

The vigil went ahead because of the strength of feeling, and the police who were present from the start knew it was an entirely peaceful event. 

It started out as a powerful and emotional experience. One woman carried a sign saying she had been arrested, strip-searched and raped by police.

A chorus of women’s voices appealed for safety and security. Flowers and candles were left around trees for Sarah and women were gathering and kneeling to pay their respects and show solidarity with her family.

People were starting to leave when the police stormed the bandstand and that’s when the mood of the crowd started to change. 

We were shocked and upset at such a heavy-handed display of state force at a peaceful vigil. 

The crowd started to chant “Arrest your own” and “The police do not protect us.”

What was so upsetting was that once again women were being strong armed and silenced by a group of men who were hostile to us. 

The aggression of the police, women being pushed around and arrested for nothing is damning, as some of the video evidence that has emerged shows. 

One of the most distressing and disturbing images is that of five foot two Patsy Stevenson being forced onto the ground and handcuffed. 

It is also worth noting that the Met Police made a decision to put their riot squad, the tactical support group, TSG, on standby outside Clapham Common. 

One of their own has been charged with murdering a woman and yet the Met felt it was appropriate and proportionate to put the riot squad on standby at her vigil?

This is the same old pattern that women have endured all of our lives and know so well. 

Women who insist on being treated with dignity and respect get silenced by any means necessary. 

Too many of us get raped, beaten and murdered for asserting our most basic rights, including the right to have agency and control and over our own bodies.

This must change, and women cannot allow anyone, including state forces, to bully or silence us. 

The contempt for women runs right through the system and it is reflected in the treatment of the mainly female NHS nursing workforce who are expected to risk their lives during a pandemic, keep their mouths shut and accept a 1 per cent pay insult. 

Repressive legislation is now going through Parliament on the pretext of protecting us all from the pandemic. 

But what these laws will do is strip us all of the human right to freely associate forever. 

This cannot be allowed to happen and violence and oppression against women must be ended for good.