Women booed by men at march for safer streets campaign in Newcastle

Women, men and children in Newcastle participated in a march in Newcastle city centre, to campaign for women’s safety.

The march, named Reclaim The Night, took place on Saturday, November 26. The march is organised by Northern TUC and is a yearly event, created to raise awareness against women and girls, and campaign for safer streets. The march was delivered in collaboration with West End Women and Girls Centre, It Happens Here Newcastle, Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland and Newcastle University Students’ Union. Newcastle’s Women’s Street Watch were also in attendance.

The route started at the Bigg Market at 6.15pm, before moving on to Highbridge, Grey Street, Dean Street, Side, Sandhill, Quayside, Gateshead Millennium Bridge, finishing at Baltic Square where speeches were held.

Sadly, during the march, the women were met with ridicule from men, as they walked down the Grey Street area of Newcastle. In a video taken by one of the campaigners, loud booing can be heard, as one of the marchers asks in disbelief: “are people booing?”

In an interview with BBC North East and Cumbria, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuiness  said: “We’re very angry about the fact our streets don’t always feel safe. Behaviour like that reinforces why we need to be there.”