Indian women ‘occupy night streets’ to protest mass molestation
NEW DELHI (Reuters )— Hundreds of women gathered in over 30 towns and cities across India late on Saturday, saying they were “occupying the night streets” to demand safety in public spaces after reports of mass molestation of women in Bengaluru City on New Year’s Eve.
From the capital New Delhi to Kolkata in the east, Chennai in the south and Mumbai in the west, activists, students, and professionals gathered at marches and street plays or sang songs and recited poetry on equality for women.
The participants chanted slogans such as “Freedom, Freedom, Freedom!” and held banners saying “Take back the night. Break the silence. End the violence” and “Nobody asks what my molester was wearing.”
“Since the age of 12, I have never felt comfortable or safe on the streets — day or night, but first time I have ever attended a march like this,” said Anuradha Sinha, 37, a program manager at an ecommerce company.
“I have a three- year- old daughter and given the situation we face today in terms of sexual harassment, I don’t want my daughter to grow up and endure what we have to go through everyday. It has to change.”
The marches coincided with marches being held around the world following US President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday, but organizers of the #IWillGoOut campaign said their demands were different from those in other countries.
The campaign in India was launched this month after reports of sexual assaults during celebrations on Dec. 31 in Bengaluru, where several women were allegedly groped and assaulted by a mob in the city’s central business district.