AROUND 250 women, men and children took to the streets of Edinburgh last Thursday in a public expression of the universal right to move safely and freely at night regardless of gender, sexuality or appearance.

The Reclaim the Night march was organised by the Edinburgh University Feminist Society and the Edinburgh University Students' Association Women’s Action Group and was one of many similar protests that take place across the world

Despite adverse weather conditions on Thursday evening, marchers were defiant and spirits remained high on the 2.2-mile route through the streets of Edinburgh.

Members of the public emerged from pubs and shops to watch marchers pass by, many of whom were carrying placards and chanting slogans.

Some observers showed their support by joining the march for portions of the journey and staff at the Blood Donor Centre on Lauriston Place clapped and cheered as the marcherspassed.

The City of Edinburgh Council had approved the route in advance and a strong police presence halted evening traffic on some of Edinburgh’s busiest roads, allowing marchers to pass safely.

The event follows in the vein of hundreds of similar marches organised by international feminists since 1978, however, many felt that the need to march had become even more important in light of the violent sexual attacks suffered by two women in the last fortnight.

A goal of the event was to discourage the ‘victim-blaming’ that can arise after such events and dispel the myth that sexual attack is ever a consequence of the actions, or attire, of the victim.

University of Edinburgh student and event organiser Susannah Compton told The Student, “We get complacent every now and then and think our streets are getting safer, but I think that’s definitely not true.

“We need to keep having these marches and it’s really important that we keep stating our rights to be on the streets.”

A small number of people, however, voiced their concerns about the organisers’ decision to allow a male presence at the march.

One individual, posting on the event’s Facebook event page, lamented that an inclusion of both genders was not in the spirit of the historically ‘women-only’ event, and that she would therefore be unable to attend.

Event organiser Alva Traebert responded, “The team that was organising this [march] decided to include all genders because they felt that it was very important that everyone who feels that it’s their responsibility to speak out against violence [does so].”

There was a specific block in the march which was reserved exclusively for women which organisers said was to, “pay respect to the tradition of women-only marches.”