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LONDON – The name of the murdered young woman was slowly being picked up by the crowd that gathered in the south-east London area on Friday evening: Sabina Nessa. Sabina Nessa. Sabina Nessa.
Ms. Nessa, a 28-year-old elementary school teacher, was murdered in a nearby park last week. And her death has rekindled outrage over violence against women in Britain and raised the question of whether enough is being done to ensure their safety.
Mothers held their daughters at the vigil on Friday evening. Friends joined arms. Another young woman had been killed. Another congregation mourned.
“It’s very close to home,” said Sarah Brown, 43, who attended the vigil with her 3-year-old daughter on Friday night. “I hope it will be a safe place when she is Sabina’s age and can just go home. Five minutes, you just wouldn’t believe that. “
Ms. Nessa left her home in the Kidbrooke neighborhood of south east London at 8:30 p.m. on September 17 to meet a friend in a nearby pub, a route that should have been only five minutes.
But it never arrived. A passerby found her body the next afternoon in a nearby park. The police did not make public how she was killed.
London police arrested a suspect on Thursday. However, suffragettes say the streets are no safer, despite months of promises made by law enforcement and the government.
The vigil for Ms. Nessa recalled similar scenes that happened just six months ago after the death of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing director who was kidnapped and murdered elsewhere in London.
Ms. Everard’s death sparked widespread protests, a flood of women sharing their experiences of violence, and calls for reform.
Those demonstrations amid a national pandemic lockdown flowed into broader protests denouncing the persistent policing of an early vigil for Ms. Everard.
But many say that little has changed in the months between the two murders, both of which took place that evening in relatively public parts of London.
Activists have not only called for increased policing, but also a revision of the criminal justice system that would ensure tougher penalties for gender-based violence and an emphasis on early education on the issue.
Aisha K. Gill, Professor of Criminology at the University of Roehampton, said, “How many women have to die before there can be any real sense of action and systemic change and a response to how the system is failing victims of violence?” On each individual level? â€She added that cases with women of color did not cause the same public anger as cases with white women.
“Countless women of color have died during this epidemic of violence against women,” she said.
The Metropolitan Police said Thursday that a 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder in the murder of Ms. Nessa. They posted video surveillance images of another man and a vehicle that they said may be linked to the case and appealed to the public for information.
At the vigil on Friday evening, women carried signs with the names of those who had been killed by men in the past year. Community groups distributed personal alerts and road safety leaflets. Dozens laid flowers in the nearby park where Ms. Nessa’s body was found.
Her sister, Jebina Yasmin Islam, burst into tears when she turned to the crowd and thanked them for their support.
“We lost an amazing, caring and beautiful sister who left this world way too soon,” she said. “No family should have to go through what we’ve been through.”
Ms. Nessa, one of four sisters, was a teacher at Rushey Green School in Catford, southeast London, for two years. The school’s headmistress, Lisa Williams, called her a “brilliant teacher” in a statement.
“She had so much life ahead of her and so much more to give,” said Ms. Williams.
Juliette Best, whose grandson goes to the same school, said the community was shaken by the murder of Ms. Nessa. The children were told of their deaths during a meeting on Tuesday morning.
“Something has to be done,” said Ms. Best. “Women are not safe on the street.”
According to Counting Dead Women, a project that is monitoring a dismal trend called “femicide,” at least 108 women were killed this year in cases of a man being the prime suspect.
In addition, cases of fatal domestic abuse increased during a series of national lockdowns. And a nationwide survey this summer showed that two in three women ages 16 to 34 have experienced some form of harassment in the past 12 months.
Janet Daby, an opposition Labor lawmaker who represents an area adjacent to the area where Ms. Nessa was killed, called in parliament earlier this week for new government action.
“Like so many before her, her life was brutally taken by misogynist violence,” said Ms. Daby. “How many women have their lives stolen before this government takes serious action?”
The government announced this summer a new strategy to combat violence against women and girls, which includes tougher sentences for offenders and increased surveillance of public spaces.
However, a report by an independent watchdog group called for a “radical change in approach across the system, including the police, criminal justice, local authorities, health and education sectors.” Zoë Billingham, a member of the watchdog group, said: “We can’t just avoid each other with the police here.”
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