Your photography puts mine to shame.

I struggled for a minute, maybe two using a knee to put pressure on the front of the latch while compressing the retainer spring with both thumbs before considering the effect on my arthritic hands. Here's what I came up with instead:



The copper coupling fit nicely to keep the latch tongue out of the way, but in retrospect this may not have been absolutely necessary.





I could compress the spring into the groove but getting it to rotate wasn't easy.



Adding this O-ring helped grip and turn the spring enough to finish off with whatever tool was used to remove it.



--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Life is like a roll of toilet paper.
The closer you get to the end the faster it goes.