The deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police has said he “can’t apologise for my officers” over their handling of the Sarah Everard vigil in south London last weekend. Speaking to the London assembly’s police and crime committee on Wednesday, Sir Stephen House said he “understood that their actions have upset people” but he would not cast judgment. He said: “We do not underestimate the upset that has been caused, but the officers took their actions believing they were doing the right thing to protect people’s health. I’m sorry, of course, that people are so upset at seeing officers enforcing legislation. But the officers were doing their duty as they saw it, and I will not second-guess that at this moment in time.” Unmesh Desai a member of the committee, appeared to describe what House had said as a “half-hearted apology”, saying: “I don’t quite understand … what you said, but as an apology, or a half-hearted apology, let’s leave it at that.” The Met has been widely criticised for officers’ treatment of mourners at the vigil in Clapham on Saturday. Images circulated on social media showed women being arrested and pinned to the ground by male officers. The force is facing an independent inquiry by the policing inspectorate. When House was asked by another member of the committee whether he thought any organisations had attempted to hijack the vigil, he said he could not give a definitive view but officers had been faced with a “very, very hostile situation” and the “passions of people there were very clear and became unfortunately directed at police officers”. He said the issue of whether the officers’ actions were proportionate was important, and he believed from what he had seen that “the actions of the individual officers making the arrests were proportionate and not extreme”. House said he had seen a tweet from one group, which he did not name, “basically saying … don’t bring any identification, make sure you have your solicitor’s phone number to hand and do not talk to the police.” He said the tweet was a “typical preparatory tweet before a demonstration, but not before a vigil”. He appeared to be referring to a tweet offering legal advice sent by Sisters Uncut, a feminist direct action group that was present at the vigil. Siân Berry, the Green party candidate for mayor of London, said she was disappointed that Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner, had not attended the committee meeting, despite being invited. “My view is that the most appropriate conversation that should be taking place is between the commissioner and some of the female members of this committee,” she said. “I am disappointed that we’ve had so many male voices speaking on our behalf.” A serving Met officer has been charged with the kidnapping and murder of Sarah Everard and is due to go on trial at the Old Bailey in October.