Metropolitan Police is escalating its blatant efforts to challenge a legal decision that found serious flaws in its handling of a planned guard for Sarah Everard.
Weeks after the High Court rejected Scotland Yards’ request to appeal its March decision, the force will now seek permission from the Court of Appeal to launch a challenge.
The ruling concluded that officers violated the organizers’ rights by threatening them with fines of £ 10,000 for Covid breaches if they pressed on with the socially distant event in Clapham Common, south London, in March 2021.
They were forced to cancel their plans, but hundreds of protesters showed up anyway, some of whom were arrested and pinned to the ground.
Met’s first request for an appeal was met with scorn by High Court judges, who blasted the power to push for a ‘selective and misleading analysis’ of the decision and failed to present ‘any clear or tenable argument’.
Lord Justice Warby and Justice Holgate rejected the request on the grounds that “none of the grounds of appeal has a reasonable chance of success and there is no other compelling reason why an appeal should be considered”.
Many of the arguments put forward ‘lacked coherence’ and were fraught with ‘hopeless attempts to challenge reasoned factual conclusions’, they added.
Scotland Yard confirmed on Friday that it is submitting its request to the judges of the Court of Appeal, which may override the decisions of the High Court.
The Met faced renewed accusations of ‘waste of public money’ by Reclaim These Streets (RTS), who tweeted: ‘Despite the High Courts’ strong rejection of their ‘hopeless’ application for leave to appeal, they are now trying to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
“Will it never end?”
In response to the tweet, Met said its appeal is not focused on the police work of the protest itself, but decisions and communication with RTS prior to the date.
In a statement, the force said: ‘The reason we are appealing this case is that we believe there are important principled points about the role of the police in advising organizers prior to a proposed event and whether it should involve an assessment of the importance of the cause.
‘We believe that clarity on these issues is of paramount importance both to citizens and their right to freedom of expression and to the police in how they enforce legal restrictions, while remaining neutral to the cause behind the event itself.
‘This appeal is not about the police work of the guard himself, but about the decisions and communication with Reclaim These Streets prior to the planned event in March last year.
‘As an organization, we work with, support and police hundreds of protests and events across London every month and take our responsibilities very seriously.
“We welcome and fully accept the important principles of control and challenge in this area of policing.”
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