The Southend woman who was photographed being pinned down by police during a Sarah Everard vigil has rejected criticism about a social media video.

Patsy Stevenson, 28, was arrested at the vigil for Ms Everard in Clapham Common in March, with pictures of her arrest going viral and being seen by millions of people.

Ms Everard was found dead in Kent days after going missing in London. 

Since the vigil held to remember Ms Everard, Patsy has posted a video on TikTok where she has tried to recreate the very same pictures showing her being arrested.

At the start of the video, the words: “I really recognise you from somewhere but don’t know where” are shown above Patsy’s face before she tilts the camera angle and puts on a mask.

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An image of her arrest is then displayed underneath.

The video has been met with some criticism by other users of the social media platform, who claim Patsy – a former South Essex College pupil – has used Ms Everard’s death as an opportunity to promote herself.

Some TikTok users have labelled the video “insensitive”, but Patsy has denied those suggestions and insists it formed part of her campaign to promote feminism.

She told the Echo: “The reason I did the video was because I keep getting stopped in the street by people saying they recognise me. It was literally related to that.

“I’ve been thrown into the spotlight by the media because of what happened at the vigil.

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“But I’m using my TikTok account to raise awareness of feminism and the work that needs to be done still.

“There are only a few negative comments on there but I’ve had thousands of really supportive comments from people as well who are right behind the work I and others are doing.

“We’ve got some really exciting projects going on at the moment. We're making small steps but I've had followers open up about their abuse and talking about taking action which is really important."

Patsy, who is now a physics student at Royal Holloway, University of London, previously claimed she “did not know why she was pushed to the ground so forcefully” before being arrested by police at the vigil.

Officers were criticised for their heavy handed approach towards protestors but Patsy insisted the focus should have been on the safety of women.

She told Good Morning Britain: “I think we need to get the message away from 'we're against the police' and 'the police did wrong' and focus on the main message which is that we now need to open a dialogue for change and support women's safety."

On Sarah Everard’s family, she added: “I cannot understand what they are going through, all we wanted to do was show our respect and support, we’re all terribly sad that it happened.”