Reclaim the Night


Reclaim the Night is a movement started in Leeds in 1977 as part of the Women's Liberation Movement. Marches demanding that women be able to move throughout public spaces at night took place across England until the 1990s. Later, the organisation was revived and sponsors annual and national marches against rape and violence against women.

History

The Reclaim the Night marches were part of the Women's Liberation Movement in England. The first Reclaim the Night march took place in Leeds in 1977. The Leeds march attracted 60 women who marched up North Street. The marches were in part a response to the "Yorkshire Ripper" murders, and the police response which told women to stay out of public spaces after dark. Women carried signs such as "No Curfew on Women - Curfew on Men." It was organised by the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group. The Leeds group was in turn inspired by similar marches that had taken place earlier in Germany.
An October 1978 march in Soho led to women being injured and 13 women arrested after they had a "clash" with the police. A later march in Soho in January 1979 had 2,000 women attending.
Some attendees did not agree with the radical tactics of participants who sometimes were seen "hissing and swearing at innocent male bystanders" and who shouted "Curfew for Men," "Death to Rapists" and "Castrate Men." Others emphasized the importance of women being able to come together to call out violence and rape and take back public spaces for themselves.
Eventually, the marches ceased around the 1990s. Women decided to revive the organisation in 2004. That year, only 30 women turned out in London, but in 2005, they had around 1,000 women. In 2006 a Reclaim the Night was organized in Ipswich as a response to the murders of five prostitutes there, with between 200 and 300 attendees. Birmingham held its first march in October 2009.
The first Reclaim the Night march in Northampton took place in 2013 and allowed both men and women to attend the march. The march was also meant to raise awareness for the Northamptonshire Rape and Incest Centre. On 25 November 2017 hundreds of women inspired by the #MeToo movement marched across the United Kingdom in London, Bristol and Newcastle.
The march has inspired a work of theatre called The Darkest Corners which is part of the Transform 17 festival.