Women's safety march highlights routine harassment

Organisers of a march highlighting women's safety say they still routinely face catcalls and harassment.

The University of Suffolk Students' Union hosted a Reclaim the Night demonstration and vigil in Ipswich on Tuesday, with about 100 people taking part.

Lauren Searle said her women's running group had been on the receiving end of "multiple cars" beeping their horns and catcalling.

"It's quite scary and concerning," said the psychology student.

The march was part of the national White Ribbon campaign, which this year has the slogan: "Not all men are the problem, but all men can be part of the solution."

This year the Office for National Statistics started collecting data which combines experiences of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

It suggested more than 12% of women aged over 16 had experienced one of these in the last year.

A march was also held in Bury St Edmunds for the first time, organised by the support charity Restore.

Katherine Ahluwalia, their principal operations manager at Restore, said: "It's about everybody being aware that if you're walking behind somebody you might not realise that actually you're making them feel nervous or frightened.

"It's about having that whole community approach and everybody being aware that this is an issue in all our communities."

Reclaim the Night marches started in 1977 as a response to women being told to stay indoors following the Yorkshire Ripper murders.

The Ipswich march was revived in 2018 by Suffolk Rape Crisis, held to coincide with the annual White Ribbon campaign.

When the charity closed in 2024 due to uncertain funding, the students' union took over, organising their first march in February, and now returning to holding it annually in November.

Jack Millen is a recent graduate from the University of Suffolk, who joined the march to show support.

"I was surprised when I first heard the background and the context to this," he said.

"It's an issue that affects so many people, so it's important that we all come together to stand up for something like this."

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