A vigil had been due to be held in Colchester this weekend in response to the disappearance of Sarah Everard.

The Women's Equality Party in north Essex had organised the vigil for 6pm on Saturday outside Colchester Town Hall.

The vigil is entitled #ReclaimTheseStreets and is one of a number planned across the country.

Anyone attending was asked to observe social distancing and wear a mask.

But organisers of vigil in Colchester town centre have since been forced to cancel due to Covid rules. 

Read more >>> Organisers of vigil in Colchester town centre forced to cancel due to Covid rules

Marketing executive Ms Everard vanished while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on Wednesday March 3.

Ms Everard is thought to have walked through Clapham Common towards her house in Brixton – a journey which should have taken around 50 minutes.

She was last captured on a doorbell camera walking along the A205 Poynders Road towards Tulse Hill at around 9.30pm on March 3.

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday night that remains had been found in an area of woodland in Ashford in Kent by detectives investigating the 33-year-old’s disappearance.

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick sought to reassure the public in the wake of Wednesday’s developments, saying “it is thankfully incredibly rare for a woman to be abducted from our streets”.

She added: “But I completely understand that despite this, women in London and the wider public – particularly those in the area where Sarah went missing – will be worried and may well be feeling scared.”

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Another “Reclaim these streets” vigil has been organised on Facebook and is due to take place at Clapham Common bandstand at 6pm on Saturday evening.

Organisers said: “It’s wrong that the response to violence against women requires women to behave differently. In Clapham, police told women not to go out at night this week. Women are not the problem.

“We’ve all been following the tragic case of Sarah Everard over the last week. This is a vigil for Sarah, but also for all women who feel unsafe, who go missing from our streets and who face violence every day.”

A serving police officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command has been arrested on suspicion of Ms Everard’s kidnap and murder.

The officer, in his 40s, was also arrested over a separate allegation of indecent exposure, the Met said.

A woman in her 30s has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.