Image source, Getty Images

"Missing: Please Help Our dear friend Sarah Everard," read the posters that went up on south London streets and local social media forums in the days after the 33-year-old disappeared on her walk home in early March.

In the days that followed, concern grew to alarm, then dread, then fear, shock and sadness.

The case had touched a nerve, particularly as walking is one of the few activities to have been allowed during Britain's coronavirus lockdown.

Women across the country took to social media to discuss their own experiences of walking the streets and the lengths they went to to feel safe. Out poured stories of being followed, harassed, catcalled, assaulted and exposed to.

One tweet asking women if they have ever faked phone calls, changed route, or even run in fear after feeling threatened by men in public spaces was liked more than 120,000 times.

Anna Birley was one of many people in recent days to have underlined that the narrative around women's safety must change.

She helped plan a vigil at Clapham Common - one of several around the country - as a way of "reclaiming our public spaces and coming together to feel a level of solidarity".

But it became controversial when it resulted in clashes with police and women were seen being physically restrained.

Read more here.

Image source, PA Media

Officers investigating the death of Sarah Everard have cordoned off an area in the town of Sandwich in Kent.

The marketing executive disappeared as she walked home in Clapham on 3 March. Her body was found one week later in Kent woodland.

Officers have been seen looking under vehicles in a car park by a Co-op supermarket while another was seen examining lines of trolleys.

A large portion of another car park in the town is cordoned off with officers behind the perimeter seen dressing in wellies and overalls.

Image source, Metropolitan Police

Police cordoned off a section of The Rope Walk, near the centre of Sandwich, yesterday evening.

The cordoned-off area contains a secluded path near a stream and homes.

Residents in Sandwich have been asked not to gather at the scene.

The 33-year-old's body was found in a woodland area in Ashford on Wednesday inside a builder's bag and later identified through the use of dental records.

Serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, has been charged with her murder.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Reuters

A woman who was arrested at the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard says she's "never been so scared" as when she was "pinned to the ground by police".

Student Patsy Stevenson says she went on to the park's bandstand because police officers "seemed to be sort of aggressively talking to the women" on there.

She told ITV's Good Morning Britain she wanted to "video things and make sure there was no manhandling or anything".

She says women were [socially] distanced on the bandstand until "about 30 police" came and "pushed us towards the edge of the banister that I was holding onto".

She says: "I still don't know why I was pushed to the ground so forcefully.

"I am quite small and it was two very large male officers who sort of pulled me back very quickly and then I hit the ground.

"From start to finish it was just a sort of whirlwind, it happened very quickly.

"I was only there to lay a candle down, I did not expect that to happen."

Stevenson says she was released around 20 minutes after her arrest and given a £200 fine.

Image source, ITV

TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson has said every woman she knows has dealt with harassment or violence.

Speaking on Lorraine on ITV earlier, Jonsson said the case of Sarah Everard had brought back lots of feelings that people haven’t been dwelling on because in the middle of a pandemic they have been thinking about other things.

"I suddenly just reflected on the fact that every single woman that I know, my close friends, some extended friends, have had some form of harassment or violence, verbal, physical or whatever," she said. "And I was actually quite horrified by that realisation.”

On the advice her late dad gave her when she first came to London as a teenager, Jonsson recalled: “So I was told to keep a big coat in the back of my car, to try maybe possibly to walk in the middle of the road as opposed to on the dark pavement and also to have my keys in my hand and just be ready and be prepared.

"And it’s so ironic that I accepted, so many women have accepted, that that is how we should behave.”

Jonsson said she was "moved to tears" by heartfelt comments made by her son Cameron in a group chat with his sisters who are 20 and 16.

"He just wanted to say that for every one man who would want to harm a woman, there are many who would die defending her, and he takes responsibility for the fact that men need to be part of the societal change that needs to take place."

BBC Radio 5 Live

A woman who attended the vigil in Clapham Common has been telling BBC Radio 5 live what she saw.

Helen, from south London, said the mood of the crowd changed when the police moved in.

She said it had been "a very solemn, peaceful, respectful situation".

"It was almost like being at a mass, where there were some speeches and women were repeating that they wanted to feel safe and they wanted security," she said.

"A decision was taken by the Metropolitan Police to do enforcement and then they marched up to the bandstand and people got very distressed by that because, again, it's a group of men - mostly men - marching through a group of mostly women and strong-arming and silencing women, which people felt very, very upset about, particularly given the backdrop to this situation."

Watch the interview here, external or listen to 5 live on the free BBC Sounds app.

"Rushed" legislation could pose a threat to free speech rights and make the job of policing protests harder, a former police chief says.

As part of efforts to overhaul the justice system, the government is proposing a raft of measures in its Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which is due to receive its second reading in the House of Commons later.

Sir Peter Fahy, former chief constable of Greater Manchester, told Times Radio there was a "real danger" it could make the job of the police more difficult, adding: "People need to be really worried about this."

He said: "If we've learned one thing this weekend, it's the right to protest, the right to gather, the right to have a voice is fundamental to our democracy, and particularly British democracy."

Sir Peter said legislation was being brought in on the back of the Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion demonstrations and being rushed through with "some really dodgy definitions which the police are supposed to make sense of".

"If we've learned one thing from the coronavirus legislation (it) is that rushed legislation and unclear definitions cause huge confusion for the public and for the police having to enforce it," he said.

"This weekend has shown the crucial importance of the right to protest, and you've got to be really wary of more legislation being rushed through just because certain politicians didn't like certain protests during the summer."

Policing Minister Kit Malthouse says the legislation is the right course of action and will allow local authorities to work with police to "diagnose the causes of violence in the area and then produce a strategy to deal with it".

Women who attended the Clapham Common event spoke to BBC News about policing at the gathering, which had been cancelled by organisers due to pressure from police.

Image source, PA Media

An organiser from Reclaim These Streets - which was planning the official vigil on Saturday night before it was subsequently cancelled - said on Monday she did not want Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to resign, but asked for the police chief to meet with the group.

Anna Birley told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "We are a movement of women seeking to support and empower other women, and as one of the most senior women in British policing history, we do not want to add to the pile-on."

She said the group was "hugely disappointed" that Dame Cressida had not spoken with them before putting out a statement on Sunday about the events of the previous evening.

Dame Cressida has said she is not considering her position and that the gathering had posed a "considerable risk" to people's health, because of the ongoing pandemic.

Just to remind ourselves what this row is about - hundreds of people gathered on Clapham Common in south London on Saturday to remember Sarah Everard, whose body was found in woodland in Kent last week.

Officers branded the gathering as "unsafe" amid the ban on gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic, and urged people to go home.

But scenes of a number of women being handcuffed and removed from the vigil prompted criticism that the policing of the event had been heavy-handed.

Image source, PA Media

Women regard the streets as "lawless" when it comes to male behaviour, the Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales says.

Dame Vera Baird QC says the vigil held over the weekend in memory of Sarah Everard highlighted what many women feared could happen to them.

Dame Vera told BBC Breakfast: "Why is it that this number of women, when this awful event has occurred, have started to talk about their appalling experiences?

"They regard, quite clearly, the streets as lawless for women when it comes to male behaviour. Men it seems, they tell us, they can do what they want and say what they want, and nobody will take action.

"As we know, it doesn't seem to many people worth it to make a complaint to the police because if someone complains of rape, 98% of the 55,000 people who have complained of rape do not even get a charge."

Crown Prosecution Service and Home Office figures show there were 55,130 complaints of rape reported to police in the 12 months to March last year, but only 2,102 prosecutions and 1,439 convictions in England and Wales in 2019-20.

Dame Vera said the Met's response to Saturday's vigil would have a "dreadful" impact on the public's confidence towards policing in general.

Image source, PA Media

Labour's shadow policing minister Sarah Jones did not back the calls for Dame Cressida Dick to resign, urging for the focus "to be on Sarah Everard and the increasing problems of violence against women".

It comes as landmark legislation comes before the Commons that will give police greater powers to crack down on disruptive protests. Labour has said it will vote against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill because it contains "poorly thought-out measures to impose disproportionate controls on free expression".

"There's going to be an investigation, we know that, and we need some answers, because we were given assurances and I think we all felt that the response on Saturday was the wrong one," Jones told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"But the focus has to be on Sarah Everard and the increasing problems of violence against women, the increasing problems of harassment against women, and what we can do now in this Bill today to fix some of those problems."

It comes as a YouGov poll of 5,168 adults indicated 47% backed Dame Cressida to remain in post, with 23% calling for her to go.

The policing minister has defended Metropolitan Police chief Dame Cressida Dick amid criticism over the force's handling of the vigil.

Kit Malthouse called scenes from Saturday's event "alarming" but did not back calls for Dame Cressida to resign.

He said he recognised the "difficult position" facing the police during the pandemic.

He told the BBC: "Cressida Dick is an officer of superlative achievement in her life and close to some incredibly successful investigations, and I know she is very dedicated and committed to this issue of dealing with of violence against women and girls in the most assertive way we can."

He said whilst the "footage was alarming" and "very hard to watch", it was "worth reflecting that we've asked the police to do a hugely difficult and challenging job in this pandemic".

He said he could "understand people's anger" about the scenes that unfolded and that "if there are lessons to be learned, they will be learned" as the Met has welcomed an independent investigation.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

One of Britain's most senior police officers has called for more clarity on how forces should deal with mass events during the pandemic - such as that which happened on Saturday night in Clapham.

National Police Chiefs' Council chairman Martin Hewitt said policing demonstrations and public order was always "incredibly challenging".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "You are balancing different rights, you are balancing legal regulations, you are balancing health and safety. They are very difficult decisions for commanders on the ground to make in any set of circumstances.

"Where we are at the moment, where we are under Covid regulations, we have got the public health threat of the pandemic, those decisions have been made even harder for commanders."

Hewitt added: "These are complex. We want clarity so commanders on the ground can make those decisions in what are always very challenging circumstances."

Dominic Casciani
Home Affairs Correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Maintaining public order at protests is one of the hardest jobs in modern policing. If everything goes well, the public won't notice how commanders and demo organisers have worked out how to make an event safe.

But when it goes wrong, then the inevitable accusations of failure come piling in.

Sunday dawned badly for the Metropolitan Police's commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick. Her officers were accused of oppressing women and politicians waded in calling for her head.

But the seeds for Saturday's PR disaster for the force were sown in the legal dispute over whether a vigil could take place at all - and how events then seemed to run out of control.

The question is whether the police should have foreseen that happening. That, time and again, is the great challenge of public order policing.

Read more from Dominic here.

Image source, Reuters

Welcome to our live page coverage as the row continues about the policing of a vigil to remember Sarah Everard.

Here’s a summary of the situation so far.

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he is “deeply concerned’ by footage at the event on Clapham Common, London, on Saturday
• Officers handcuffed women and removed them from the gathering - which was being held to remember 33-year-old Sarah Everard
• An official vigil had been cancelled after organisers Reclaim These Streets said senior officers from the Metropolitan Police failed to engage with them on how to make the event Covid-safe
• People headed to the bandstand area on the common on Saturday anyway, with many laying flowers during the day - including the Duchess of Cambridge, who made a private visit
• But in the evening, four people were arrested for public order and coronavirus regulation breaches, the Met said
• The force's action at the vigil has drawn widespread criticism, with images and footage showing officers forcibly detaining women
• London Mayor Sadiq Khan described the police's actions as "unacceptable"
• Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has dismissed calls to resign and defended the force’s actions. The police watchdog will be carrying out a review of the policing of the event
• Government sources said the PM and Home Secretary Priti Patel had confidence in Dame Cressida
• The prime minister will chair a meeting of the crime and justice taskforce later to discuss ways to protect women - Dame Cressida will be among those attending

Read more on our main story here.