The news of the murder of Sarah Everard by police officer Wayne Cousins stirred up not only Britain, but the whole world. Not only because someone who is supposed to protect others is accused of murder. What happened makes us ask ourselves again and again: can women feel safe anywhere?
Sarah Everard went missing in the London Borough of Clapham on March 3 while returning home from a friend. She was last seen alive at 21.30. They searched for Sarah for a week, and eventually her remains were found in Ashford Forest in Kent. Police officer Wayne Cousins was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and killing Sarah.
On Saturday, March 13, it was planned to hold actions in cities across the UK to honor the memory of Sarah Everard and draw attention to the issue of women’s safety. However, the authorities banned peaceful demonstrations, justifying the ban with coronavirus restrictions.
And yet, in Clapham, several hundred people came to the rally. They carried placards: “Who will be next?”, “Don’t protect your daughters, raise your sons”, “Stop the war against women”, “Men, your silence makes you complicit.”
As a result, the peaceful action ended with the dispersal of the demonstration and the detention of the protesters. And the authorities again justified the arbitrariness of the police with the coronavirus: they say that it is impossible to keep a distance in the crowd and there is a high risk of infection.
The behavior of the police sparked a wave of protests across the country. Over the weekend, thousands of protesters gathered in Parliament Square and at New Scotland Yard in London. They demanded to investigate and punish those responsible.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan expressed solidarity with the protesters, saying he was not satisfied with the justifications of the head of the city police. And he called such behavior “completely unacceptable.”
Many on social media also responded to the incident. Women’s activists tweeted: “We can’t be intimidated. Don’t even think about touching us today.”
There were also such messages: “The police do not protect us, we protect ourselves”, “Every woman survived the attack or knows at least one victim.”
Sarah’s death deeply shocked not only Britain, but the whole world. Girls and women decided to share stories of violence on social networks. Even Kate Middleton brought a bouquet to the spontaneously appeared memorial of the murdered. She commented on her visit: “I, like any woman, remember what it’s like to walk through London at night.” The protesters are uniting under the slogan #reclaimthesestreets, or “reclaim these streets.”
The police asked the women to refrain from walking around the city alone during the investigation. Jenny Jones, a member of the British House of Lords, responded by proposing a curfew for men, forbidding them to leave their homes after 18.00 pm.
As a result, a stream of chauvinist messages fell upon her: their authors were not at all embarrassed that it was women who were the first to be offered to sit at home – potential victims, and not potential aggressors.
It is bitter to admit, but it already seems to many that this is the only way women can feel safe. Do not clench the keys in a fist, do not keep your finger on the alarm button of the phone. Do not turn around when entering the entrance …
In truth, a woman can be attacked anywhere, anytime. It is clear that the proposal to impose a curfew is rather a gesture of desperation, an attempt to draw attention to the problem in a loud, radical way. However, the question of whether women can feel safe and not risk their lives while moving along the streets of their native cities remains open. And the answer to it will have to look for a long time.