James Williams' column

Already we have people wanting to lay the blame, if not at the feet of the peaceful women protesters, at anyone and everyone except those who took the disastrous decisions to move in and forcibly try to disperse the crowd. I’ve heard people claim it’s Sadiq Khan’s fault as he’s the Mayor of London, The Commissioner of the Met, Cressida Dick faces calls to resign and Priti Patel, the Home Secretary in charge of policing is also facing criticism.

I believe in accountability and responsibility and, at the end of the inevitable inquiry into this shameful event, people should resign. Whether the right people are held responsible and accountable is another matter. It’s too easy to make this a political exercise if blaming a political party or a politician, when what we should strive for is an understanding of how women protesting peacefully for their right to walk the streets – any streets – without fear could be treated this way.

People compared the police response to how police allowed Rangers fans to celebrate without it turning into a riot. What were the command decisions there which made that event, which also broke the Covid laws on mass gatherings, fizzle out without a mass police intervention?

I am not a police officer, have no tactical awareness or training so I am not qualified to speak about the decisions on how to police such gatherings are made. Yet common sense (which can sometimes be at odds with the law) surely dictates that categoric errors were made that should not have been made. Why were the crowds that gathered kettled into a mass crowd? It was a common, why did the police not ask those at the vigil to spread out? Why did the police not talk to the event organisers as suggested by the judge who ruled that the Covid laws did not mean a blanket ban on protests?

Why was it necessary to push vigil attenders to the floor and handcuff them? They posed no threat; they didn’t carry weapons. No doubt in the months to come some of these questions will be answered, but one thing is certain, the Met police, indeed all police forces, will have to work hard to restore trust and faith from women in their ability to police by consent and with a degree of empathy in situations like this.

But this horrendous situation, where an innocent woman lost her life for no apparent reason, has highlighted the need for men to do so much more to ensure that no woman feels unsafe walking the streets. I’m disgusted at the statistics revealing how women are regularly exposed to inappropriate behaviour, harassment, and sexual molestation at the hands of men. All men have a responsibility to act to stop this kind of thing continuing. In my youth cat calling, whistling at women, inappropriate comments were common but something my own father would never have tolerated in me. He taught me to respect women.

It is our duty to educate boys and young men about the fear women experience and how we can lessen this. I’m a big bloke, on a dark night I’ve no doubt I could appear intimidating if I was walking behind a lone woman. If I find myself doing this, I cross the street, take an alternative route, stop and wait for the woman to move ahead. Even if it inconveniences me or makes me a bit late, better that than unintentionally instil fear in a woman.

We should not expect women to be the ones to change their behaviour, to arm themselves holding keys between their fingers as a defence mechanism or go equipped with pepper spray, making pretend phone calls and all the other things that seem now to be part and parcel of preparing for a night out.

No matter how much men change, and I hope that we all do make changes, it will not prevent all the attacks or murders, but it will raise awareness and perhaps more men will call out inappropriate behaviour or see another man acting suspiciously and do something to prevent an attack.

We cannot eliminate all risk, all danger, but collectively we can make all lives better simply by instilling a sense of respect for others.