BBC hits back at complaints over Sarah Everard vigil coverage

The BBC has been hit with complaints over coverage of the vigil in memory of Sarah Everard on Clapham Common.

Hundreds of women gathered on the common on Saturday March 13. In the evening there were clashes as police moved to clear people calling for safer streets for women and girls.

Officers were seen grabbing several women and Scotland Yard came under pressure to explain its handling of the event, with Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick facing calls to resign.

The broadcaster’s internal regulator has now released its latest complaints report, revealing that viewers claimed BBC coverage ‘was biased against the Metropolitan Police or was biased in favour of the attendees’.

Responding to the complaints, the BBC said: ‘We don’t consider that our coverage of the vigil for Sarah Everard has been biased against the Metropolitan Police. Our reporting made clear that they had advised people against attending the vigil due to Covid restrictions.

‘However, given there was widespread and high-profile criticism of policing tactics from politicians, this aspect of the story was included in our coverage.’

The vigil saw scuffles break out after police surrounded the bandstand at Clapham Common, which had been covered in flowers left in tribute for the 33-year-old marketing executive.

It comes after a review into policing at the vigil for Sarah Everard found that police ‘did not act inappropriately’.

Sir Thomas Winsor, who led it, said the Metropolitan Police officers there did not act ‘in a heavy-handed manner’.

Meanwhile, The BBC was also recently hit with complaints after the documentary Why is Covid Killing People of Colour? aired earlier this month, with some accusing it of racism.

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