Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick is facing calls to resign after clashes between police and crowds at a vigil for Sarah Everard.

It comes after crowds gathered on Clapham Common on Saturday night to remember the 33-year-old marketing executive. 

Officers from the Metropolitan Police were seen grabbing several women and leading them away in handcuffs.

The force later said four people were arrested for public order and coronavirus regulation breaches.

Reclaim These Streets had organised the vigil before being forced to cancel following consultation with the Metropolitan Police, which said it would be in breach in coronavirus restrictions.

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After the clashes, organiser Jamie Klingler said the force’s handling of events was a sign of the “systemic ignoring and oppressing of women”.

“I think we were shocked and really, really sad and to see videos of policemen handling women at a vigil about violence against women by men… I think it was painful and pretty triggering to see,” she said.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has demanded a full report on events – and described the scenes as “upsetting”.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called on Dame Cressida to resign, while Women’s Equality Party co-founder Catherine Mayer said her position was “untenable”.

Home Office minister Victoria Atkins said she took the events “very seriously” but that she wanted to give the commissioner “a chance to explain” what happened.

She told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “I really, really want to support the Home Secretary in her request to have a report from Cressida.

“The police have got a tough job in policing the coronavirus pandemic more generally at the moment.”

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She added: “I think this morning given how difficult last night was, after what has been an incredibly upsetting week, I’m very keen that we don’t pre-empt that report and we give the Met Commissioner a chance to explain what happened last night.”

Labour has not called for Dame Cressida to resign, with shadow domestic violence minister Jess Phillips saying: “The reality is if Cressida Dick stays or goes (it) doesn’t make women in this country more safe, and that’s what I want to talk about.”

She said there were “so many missed opportunities throughout the day for police to work with organisers to create a completely safe vigil so that people could go and have a moment of sorrow and a moment of resistance”.

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In the early hours of Sunday, Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said police were put into a position “where enforcement action was necessary”.

She said: “Hundreds of people were packed tightly together, posing a very real risk of easily transmitting Covid-19.

“Police must act for people’s safety, this is the only responsible thing to do. The pandemic is not over and gatherings of people from right across London and beyond, are still not safe.

“Those who gathered were spoken to by officers on a number of occasions and over an extended period of time. We repeatedly encouraged those who were there to comply with the law and leave. Regrettably, a small minority of people began chanting at officers, pushing and throwing items.”

Vigils also took place in locations including Glasgow, Nottingham, Birmingham and Bristol.