Police chiefs have been accused of presiding over a “culture of obsessive secrecy” after it emerged that no minutes were taken during a series of key meetings in the hours before officers controversially broke up a vigil for Sarah Everard in London.
The vigil, which took place on Saturday 13 March, was intended to allow people to pay their respects to Everard, who was murdered by a police officer. But it ended with women being arrested and pinned down by police, with some saying they felt “violated”.
MPs have said that the police’s use of force at the vigil breached “fundamental rights”, but the Met Police was cleared of any wrongdoing by an official investigation. The inquiry’s report was published two weeks after the vigil.
