'How dare you!': Furious row with caller questioning Clapham vigil

14 March 2021, 11:57

Andrew Castle's fiery clash with caller over motivations of vigil

By Seán Hickey

This is the moment Andrew Castle faced-off with a caller who questioned his motivations for attending Sarah Everard's vigil.

Simon phoned in from Orpington to share his concerns over the motivations of people present at Sarah Everard's vigil in Clapham Common on Saturday night.

The caller questioned Andrew Castle, who has openly admitted to being at the vigil: "Did you go there in the knowledge that Sarah's family consented to this kind of gathering?" The caller asked.

He suggested that "it turns into a protest" because those present at the vigil "weren't just there for Sarah" which conflated the issue.

"You think I went there to protest? I went there to mourn, to grieve, to think and to meditate my own thoughts, thank you very much. How dare you," Andrew fumed.

"How dare you tell me why I went there and what my motivation was."

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He couldn't believe that the caller accused him of protesting in Clapham Common, but Simon stood his ground.

"You said you weren't just there for Sarah Everard, you were there for another reason and I find that disgraceful."

The caller tried to clarify his position: "It wasn't the police that took away the right to protest – it was parliament. Where were you when it was taken away?

He went on to share the extent to which he values the right to protest, but believed that there should have been more uproar when the right to gather was initially taken away by MPs.

He accused MPs of shifting the blame from themselves for stripping the right to protest to police who were seemingly heavy handed at last night's vigil.

"It's much easier to dump on the police than to look in the mirror and face their own hypocrisy."