Reclaim the Night 2010

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On Saturday 4th December over 150 women and children marched through the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, to fight against rape and sexual violence. They were joined by their supporters later on in the march.

On Saturday 4th December over 150 women and children marched through the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, to fight against rape and sexual violence.

Reclaim the Night, also known as Take Back the Night, began in 1976 in Italy, Belgium and Germany. In response to the "Ripper Murders" in Leeds, and inspired by the marches on the European continent, eleven marches took place simultaneously around the UK on 12th November 1977.

Reclaim the Night has made a resurgence in the last few years with a march in Leeds in 2009 as well as this year.

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The march began outside the City Art Gallery on the Headrow, Leeds and progressed around the city centre to the Briggate where supporters joined the procession with banners. Around 200 people were on the march.

The march then continued back to arts@Trinity on Boar Lane. Hot drinks and stalls from Support After Rape and Sexual Violence Leeds (SARSVL), Womens Health Matters and a raffle from Leeds Feminist Network. Speakers included Al Garthwaite - who spoke about the first Reclaim the Night, Womens Health Matters, Vannessa Fay - who performed some of her poetry, Katie Russell - speaking about SARSVL and rape crisis services.

Although Reclaim the Night first started in Belgium, Italy and Germany, it was Leeds women who responded in the UK by calling for Reclaim the Night marches throughout the UK in 1977. Here's some of the history from ReclaimTheNight.org;

"Inspired by the news from Germany, women in Leeds formed a Reclaim The Night group to take collective action against rape and male sexual violence against women.
This was particularly significant to women in the area because of the serial murders by Peter Sutcliffe, dubbed by the press as the ‘Yorkshire Ripper', who sexually attacked and murdered thirteen women across Yorkshire between 1975 and 1980. Women in the area were angry that the police response to these murders seemed slow and that the press barely reported on them when it was mainly women involved in prostitution who were murdered.
But when a young student woman was murdered, the press and the police seemed to take more notice. The police response was to tell women not to go out at night, effectively putting them under curfew. This was not a helpful suggestion for any women, those working late shifts or night shifts, or those involved in prostitution who often had no choice about whether they went out at night or not.

Feminists and a variety of student and women's groups were angered by this response and also by the sensationalising of the serial murders, which they felt hid the real fact that all too many women are affected by male violence and that this was in fact common. The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist group called for women to march in cities across the UK on the night of 12th November 1977 against rape and for a woman's right to walk without fear at night, they advertised this in national newsletters and publicised it to women's groups.

Hundreds of women took back their cities on that night, marching with flaming torches through centres and back streets alike. They made the point that women should be able to walk anywhere and that they should not be blamed or restricted because of men's violence."

Reclaim the Nights have also happened this year in Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, London, Manchester, Glasgow.

If you have been a victim of sexual abuse or assault recently or at anytime in the past you may like to contact;
SARSVL (Support After Rape and Sexual Violence Leeds) - 0113 202 1844
Open Mon, Weds - Fri 6pm-8pm
HOPE (Healing Our Past Experiences) - 01723 381811
Sexual violence support in Scarborough. hopesupport@googlemail.com
Open Mon-Fri 9am-4.30pm (Mon. open until 8.30pm)
Bradford Rape Crisis - 01274 308270
Open Mon/Tues/Fri afternoons, Weds/Thurs evenings. Project Jyoti specialist service for Black Minority Ethnic women on Weds/Thurs afternoon.
Doncaster Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Service - 01302 328555
Open Mon 5pm-7pm, Tues 9.30am-10.30am, Thurs 12noon-1pm.
Manchester Rape Crisis - 0161 273 4500
10am-4pm Mon-Fri, plus 6pm-9pm Weds & Thurs
Tyneside Rape Crisis Centre - 0191 232 9858
Tues & Thurs 6pm-8.30pm
STAR (Surviving Trauma After Rape) [West Yorkshire] - 01924 298954
Free face to face support for females and males aged 14+ throughout West Yorkshire

Nine Rape Crisis Centres have closed in the last five years, due to lack of funding and resources. Fundraising and donations are appreciated and vital, please get in contact with your local service via email if you'd like to fundraise, donate or volunteer.

Contact email: imc-northern-contact@lists.indymedia.org