Heckled as we walked streets

Sophie Halle-Richards joins a Reclaim the Night protest walk 3

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ONE night a year, women feel truly safe walking the streets of Manchester after dark.

Flanked by security, and safe in numbers, we are able to walk freely to demand the change we need to see. But, even as we chant - calling for an end to gender-based violence a man heckles us. The

Flanked by security, and safe in numbers, we are able to walk freely to demand the change we need to see. But, even as we chant - calling for an end to gender-based violence a man heckles us. The crowd falls silent as he screams over to us, telling us we need to go and get a job. It's a brief interruption, and one that's quickly brushed off. But it leaves a sour taste, and only validates the need for women and marginalised genders to reclaim the night.

Between April 2020 and March 2021, 177 women were murdered in England and Wales. Of these women, 109 were killed by a man and 10 by a woman, according to the office for National Statistics.

And, in the year ending September 2021, a total of 40,572 women were victims of sexual assault - an increase of 13 per cent from the previous year and the highest number of sexual offences ever recorded within a 12-month period.