Hundreds of people joined a march through Stroud this morning to demand an end to sexual violence towards women and girls.
This Ends Now, a lobby group, was formed by Nikki Owen and Sydney-Anne McAllister in the wake of a series of sexual assaults around Stroud this year.
“We are a protest lobby group campaigning against sexual violence,” explained Nikki, “Our message is we want the law to be better. We want the media to do better, and we want men to step up, and so we’re here today to make our voices heard, to say enough with sexual violence and rape against women.”
The march began at Wallbridge and headed through the town with marchers chanting ‘What do we want? Freedom! When do we want it? Now!’ The route led back to the start point where a number of speakers addressed the crowd.
Fellow organiser Sydney-Ann McAllister told Stroud Times: “I actually run another platform called Fem Legal, which is a legal feminist platform, and that’s how Nikki ended up reaching out to me, because I have a background in law and looking at sexual violence and actually work and the violence against women and girls sector at the moment. So that’s how Nikki and I ended up founding This Ends Now, in light of the recent attacks in the area.
“This is the launch of our campaign – it’s mainly about raising awareness and having those conversations and getting people involved and getting men specially to step up and join in the conversation.”
Click on the link above to watch our video.
