British authorities have quashed plans to prosecute protesters who attended a vigil for a murdered woman during the country's pandemic lockdown.

The British government says veteran counterterrorism police officer Mark Rowley will be the new chief of London’s troubled Metropolitan Police.

A British court has ruled that London police acted unlawfully when they used coronavirus restrictions to prevent a vigil in memory of a murdered woman.

The “partygate” scandal that threatens to derail U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s administration has deepened as police opened an investigation into gatherings at government offices that allegedly violated COVID-19 lockdown rules.

Police in Britain’s capital are desperately trying to regain the trust of women after revelations about how a serving officer used his position to abduct, rape and murder a young woman, taking the unprecedented step of advising women and girls how to protect themselves during interactions with police.

The British government says the country's most senior police officer will stay in her job for another two years.

London’s top police official says the city’s police department is reviewing its files but not opening an investigation of Britain’s Prince Andrew.

But the vigil ended with clashes between police and those attending, and many questioned whether the police force was too heavy-handed. Home Secretary Priti Patel said scenes from the vigil in south London were “upsetting." AdPolice were seen scuffling with some women at the event, and one woman was seen pinned to the ground by two officers. Everard, a marketing executive, was last seen walking home from a friend’s apartment in south London at about 10:30 p.m. on March 3. Her body was found hidden in an area of woodland in Kent, more than 50 miles southeast of London, on Wednesday.

A missing sign outside Poynders Court on the A205 in Clapham, London Wednesday March 10, 2021 during the continuing search for Sarah Everard who has been missing for a week. The 33-year-old disappeared on Wednesday March 3 after leaving a friend's house in Clapham, south London, and began walking to her home in Brixton. The Met Police have said that a serving diplomatic protection officer is being held over the disappearance of Sarah Everard. The fate of Sarah Everard is all the more shocking because the suspect charged Friday with abducting and killing her is a U.K. police officer whose job was protecting politicians and diplomats. London police arrested a member of the force's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command on Tuesday as a suspect in the case.

LONDON – London police arrested a man Friday on suspicion of murdering an officer inside a police station nearly two months ago. Matiu Ratana, 54, was shot at Croydon Custody Center in south London in the early hours of Sept. 25 by a handcuffed suspect. Ratana, a hugely popular officer, was taken to hospital but later died from his wounds. The officer is the 17th from the London force to be killed by a firearm since 1945. Before Ratana, the last London police officer killed in the line of duty was Constable Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death in March 2017 during a vehicle and knife attack outside Parliament.

A police officer stands outside Croydon Custody Centre where a police officer was shot in the early hours of Friday, Sept. 25, 2020, in Croydon, England. A British police officer has been shot dead inside a London police station while detaining a suspect. Londons Metropolitan Police force said the officer was shot at the Croydon Custody Center in the south of the city early Friday. (Aaron Chown/PA via AP)LONDON – A British police officer was shot dead inside a London police station early Friday by a suspect he was detaining, who then appears to have turned the gun on himself. The officer is the 17th from the London force to be killed by a firearm since 1945.

A US police officer has been charged with the death of George Floyd. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)BERLIN After a day of anti-racism protests across Europe, Berlin police said 93 people were detained in connection with a demonstration in the German capital most of them after the main rally had ended. More anti-racism demonstrations were planned for Sunday across the U.K., including one outside the U.S. Embassy, just south of the River Thames. At least 15,000 people had rallied peacefully in Berlin on Saturday in response to the May 25 death of American George Floyd, which has triggered global protests against racism and police brutality. ___Follow all AP stories about global anti-racism protests and government reactions at https://apnews.com/GeorgeFloyd.