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Who is Simmy Kaur? Man seen ‘harassing' woman in London on day of Sarah Everard’s vigil in viral video

The shocking footage of the incident was shared on Twitter by the woman, who tagged London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Met Police

A man was seen on video apparently harassing a woman in the streets of London and asking her to take a picture with him while she was walking. The alleged harassment, on the day of Sarah Everard’s vigil, was faced by Simmy Kaur, who also filmed it and shared it on Twitter. While sharing the shocking footage, the woman tagged London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Met Police.

The caption of the clip read, “On the day of the Sarah Everard vigil, this just happened. For those who doubt it, it’s a daily occurrence. I was just walking home too. #EnoughIsEnough #SarahEverard #ReclaimTheseStreets #SheWasJustWalkingHome @ReclaimTS @SadiqKhan @BBCLondonNews @metpoliceuk.” The video showed a man in a face mask, hoodie and red trainers riding an electric scooter and "following" Kaur down the road. When she confronted the man and asked him, “You're following me down the street." The alleged harasser said, “Don't take a snap of me - take a snap with me." The woman then responded, "Go away. Stop following me."

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As Kaur walked away, the man in question said, “I'm going to take a snap" before Simmy replies: "No you're not going to snap a photo of me. Leave me alone. Stop following me." But the man did not stop as the video showed him following the woman for sometime before riding off and yelling insults back at her while Kaur branded him as a “freak”.

The footage of the incident has been viewed by thousands of people on the social media platform. It has also attracted a lot of comments from people with one writing, “Sorry this happened to you Simmy. Men, if you find yourself walking behind a lone woman, give her plenty of space, maybe cross to the other side of the street if you can, and pass her as quickly as you can without giving her any (more) cause for anxiety. Be aware.” Another person commented, “Women should start to carry weapons for their own protection. As far as I can see it's the best option. Tryst noone on the road! I myself carry a paper cutter in my bag when traveling to and from university and home.” The third user tweeted, “That’s really frightening & I hope you’re ok. If anything good is coming from this current situation it’s that we are learning just how common an occurrence this behaviour is and that things must change.”

On Saturday night, March 13, women held a vigil in remembrance of Everard, who was last seen alive on March 3. Days later, her remains were discovered in a builder's bag in woods on a disused golf course at Great Chart, near Ashford, Kent. Met armed officer Wayne Couzens is believed to be behind the shocking kidnapping and murder as he has been pressed with kidnap and murder charges.

Reports said on the night of the vigil that took place on Clapham Common, South West London, police used harsh methods to arrest women at the event. As a result of it, a petition was signed by thousands demanding the resignation of Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick. The petition on the Change.org page said, “After various comments and news articles over the last few weeks, it has become apparent that Cressida Dick is not capable of seeing the full truth of why the country's crime rate is skyrocketing. But she is constantly shifting blame onto people or groups that have no cause or involvement in said crimes. I therefore start this petition to call for her resignation and instate a police chief that is more capable and up to the task.”

But Dick rejected the call to quit. She was also supported by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is scheduled to head a meeting of the Government's Crime and Justice Taskforce to discuss ways to fight violence against women and girls. Before the meeting, when Johnson was asked if he had trust in Dick, he responded, “Yes I do. And what she's asked is... that we look at what happened on Saturday night. The police do have a very, very difficult job. But there's no question that the scenes that we saw were very distressing and so it is right that Tom Winsor, the inspector of constabulary, should do a full report into it. I think people have got to have confidence in the police and Tom's going to look at that."