Thousands of people are set to attend a Reclaim These Streets vigil in the wake of Sarah Everard’s disappearance and suspected murder.
More than 3,400 people have responded to an event set up on Facebook for the vigil, with posters shared widely on other social media platforms.
Several other events have emerged in different parts of the capital, as well as in cities such as Cardiff and Oxford.
Everard’s disappearance, and the later developments of the case including the arrest of a serving Met Police officer for murder and the discovery of human remains, sparked an outpouring of stories from women – not just in London but across the nation – who have experienced violence and harassment.
Thousands of women have also written and shared tweets describing the methods they’ve been forced to use simply to feel safe walking alone.
Many have described being unable to wear headphones, holding keys between their fingers, noting the registration plates of cars and taxis and calling friends to let them know they got home safely.
Keys between fingers, walking in the middle of the road, avoiding gaps in hedges or entrances to alleyways, phone on, headphones out, cross the road, check over your shoulder. We aren't born doing this stuff, we learn over years of watching women's trauma play out #SarahEverard
— Sophie Gallagher (@SCFGallagher) March 10, 2021
That FEAR of ‘is this it, is this the moment’ when a man looks at you too long or a car slows down while you’re walking home in the dark is REAL. The fear of death & violence is ingrained into how we operate as women and it’s perpetually unsettling. Feeling safe is a privilege. https://t.co/C4rMVb21Nr
— White Man Bon Iver 🇩🇲🇯🇲 (🇳🇬) (@ChantayyJayy) March 10, 2021
“Text me when you get home safe” is something I say to women I know before we part ways, and I’ve never thought about it. When I’m actually saying is that I worry something awful might happen to them and I won’t stop worrying until I know they’re safe. It shouldn’t be this way.
— Miriam Brett (@MiriamBrett) March 10, 2021
If you haven’t…
– text a mate ‘I’m home’
– crossed a road to avoid someone
– called & said ‘chat to me for 5’
– noted a cab/car reg
– got your keys out in prep
– locked your car door immediately
– held your breath until you’re past someone…then you’re a man #SarahEverard
— Faye (@fayesos) March 10, 2021
The #SarahEverard murder makes me very angry. It sickens me that we live a society that victim blames women while humanizing male perpetrators. Women are NOT the problem.
— Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (@SholaMos1) March 10, 2021
The familiar freezing over when you sense someone trailing you followed by the wave of relief you feel when they pass on by. How sad that the best we can hope for is to feel both. #SarahEverard#itsneverherfault
— Georgia Tennant (@georgiaEtennant) March 10, 2021
More than 12,000 people have now signed a petition to Lambeth Council and Wandsworth Council, urging them to provide sufficient lighting across Clapham Common to improve safety.
It was confirmed on Wednesday evening that human remains had been found in the search for Sarah Everard, almost exactly after a week after she was last seen walking home to Brixton from a friend’s house in Clapham.
The discovery was made in an area of woodland in Ashford in Kent and police have yet to confirm whether it is Everard.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick said: “We have found very sadly what appears to be human remains.
“At this early stage we are not able to confirm any identity and that may take us some considerable time.
“Specialist officers have been with Sarah’s family to update them on the investigation and continue to give them the best support possible.”
It emerged on Tuesday night that a serving Metropolitan Police officer had been arrested at an address in Kent in connection with the disappearance of the 33-year-old from Brixton.
He had initially been arrested on suspicion of kidnap and a separate incident of indecent exposure, but was later rearrested for murder.
