Reclaim the Night 2011 Reclaim the Night 2011 was greeted with perfect marching weather and thanks to printed song sheets and more megaphones we ensured our presence was known around the capital this year! Our march was followed by our best rally ever, with over 1000 people staying to party and celebrate another great march, and another great year of feminist resistance. A selection of photos is below, thanks to our feminist photographer Charlotte Barnes.

The front of the march	The front of the march

5% convictions is not enough	East London Fawcett Group

A girl on the march	A girl on the march

Kate with a megaphone	A woman on the march

Marchers	Join the third wave of feminists

In Trafalgar Square	The NUS banner

Riot don’t diet	RTN t-shirt stall

A woman on the march	Women Against the Cuts

Marchers and Big Ben	Becca at the rally

NUS speaker Estelle	Femi speaking for MWR

Salay and Julian on stage	Salay speaking from Afghanistan

Reclaim the Night 2010 Reclaim The Night 2010 was considerably dryer than last year, though snow stopped some of our sisters from attending. However over 2000 women did make it and joined us on 27 November to take back the streets of London for our 7th national Reclaim The Night march. Photos are now up on this site, thanks to Charlotte, our official RTN Feminist Photographer, and a short video has been made by a comrade and uploaded onto YouTube here.

Approaching Trafalgar Square	Front of the march and leading banner

Capitalism is a feminist issue	Marchers

The march with Big Ben behind	Girl on the march

Glasgow University feminists	Hollaback banner

The march	Passing Trafalgar Square

Marcher with flyers	Marchers with anti-rape placards

Mum and child on march	Million Women Rise

March with Centrepoint in the background	NUS women’s campaign banner

Redbridge against violence	Solent Feminist Network

Take Back the Tech	Trans women against violence

Woman and child marching	Woman with her mum on the march

Finn Mackay at the rally	Emma Humphreys award winners

Reclaim the Night 2009 On our 6th Reclaim The Night march women braved rain, storms and floods to travel from all over the UK to attend another huge women’s RTN through central London. This year our march was led by 50 women drummers from SheBoom, which is the largest women’s drumming band in Europe. Their presence ensured that everyone heard us coming and lots of women and girls joined in our march to dance along the streets with us. We marched from Whitehall again to a new venue this year at the Camden Centre near Kings Cross. Women were glad to find a licensed bar, a food hall with Caribbean food and lovely homemade cakes for sale! There were stalls from a variety of organsiations working for women and against male violence against women and children. As usual our rally had some great speakers from our sponsors the Teacher’s Union the NASUWT, the current NUS Women’s Officer, the Founder of the London Feminist Network and a speaker from Million Women Rise. Following the rally the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize was announced and this proved an uplifting and positive end to the formal proceedings, allowing us to focus on the wonderful and creative things that women are doing to campaign against male violence. The individual award went to long-time Feminist campaigner Sandra McNeill, from West Yorkshire Justice for Women and one of the first Reclaim The Night’ers in the 1970s! A special International award was given to Humanitarian Assistance to Women and Children of Afghanistan (HAWCA), a women’s group organising in Afghanistan. The group award went to our sisters in London, Object, and we were very pleased to see Anna and Sasha triumphantly collect their prize. To celebrate these wonderful winning women and another great Reclaim The Night march we partied the night away to fabulous DJs. Thanks to everyone who organised the march this year, to all the Stewards and to the male Pro-Feminist Stewards that set up our venue. See this website for photos and a great video made by Hannah on YouTube: Texts of the speeches from the rally are also now up on our London Feminist Network website.

Baby buggy and women marching	Back of an LFN steward’s bib

The head of the march	Woman raising an Object placard

Large numbers on the march	A marcher leaflets Spearmint Rhino

The NUS banner	The WAST banner

White roses given out on the march	The march front

Women marching	Women with a long banner


Collecting the award for Object	Speaking at the rally


Speaking at the rally	Speakers at the rally


Speaking at the rally	Speakers at the rally


Speakers at the rally	Sandra MacNeill wins EHMP Award


Stalls at RTN	Stalls at RTN

Reclaim the Night 2008 Reclaim The Night 2008 celebrated 5 years of taking back the night on a cold but bright and sparky night! We marked our 5th anniversary march with over 2000 women from all across the country, including coaches from Birmingham. The march went through central London from Whitehall Place to the Friends’ Meeting House at Euston. A packed rally heard speeches from Jennifer Moses from the NASUWT, Teachers’ Union; Finn Mackay, founder of the London Feminist Network; Aravinda Kosaraju from the Coalition for the Removal of Pimping (CROP); Gita Patel from IMKAAN and Jane Gregory from Rape Crisis. You can read all their speeches on the LFN website. A special 5th Birthday party was then held at the Institute of Education Student Union bar with bands Dworkin, Zombina and more. You can see a video of Finn Mackay’s speech at the rally on YouTube.

BBC sound man on the march	Cynthia on the march

Donna and Ray marching	Elaine on the march

NASUWT banner on the march	South Coast Feminists banner

Woman smiling on the march	IMKAAN stall

The platform at the rally	Our flyer that year — click to download
	We celebrated our 5th birthday with a brand new Reclaim The Night tee-shirt! This was produced in partnership with Rape Crisis and Unison. It is a colourful and powerful tee-shirt for all the women and men in your life and it can be ordered from the LFN website!

Reclaim the Night 2007 Over 1500 women took to the streets of central London for the 2007 Reclaim The Night march — shouting a loud NO to rape and male violence against women. Women travelled from all over the country to attend, and represented many different groups and organisations. Press coverage was unprecendented, with items on ITV, News 24, LBC, Radio 5 Live, BBC and regional television and radio. The rally at the University of London Union drew over 800 people. Entertainment included rousing speeches from Julie Bindel, ‘The Guardian’ journalist, Ruqayyah Collector, NUS Black Students’ Officer, Kat Stark, NUS Women’s Officer, Jane Gregory, Bradford Rape Crisis, Diana Nammi, Iranian & Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, and Finn Mackay, Chair & Founder London Feminist Network. There were over 20 stalls representing different women’s groups, community safety organisations and trade unions. Bands Evi Vine and Dworkin and DJs Pam Savage played for the Reclaim The Right To Party party until 2am.

Banner at the head of the march	One of the banners on the march

Feminist and fabulous...	Women on the march

Reclaim the Night 2006 Over 1000 women went on the march on 25 November 2006. The march was held in central London on International Day to End Violence Against Women. We assembled next to Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square at 6pm and marched through the streets of London to the University of London Union. Afterwards we had a mixed rally and Reclaim the Right to Party party, which went on late and included women DJs.

Women on the 2006 march	We assembled next to Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square at 6pm

We marched through the streets of London...	... to the University of London Union

Women on the 2006 march	Women on the 2006 march

Women on the 2006 march	Afterwards we had a mixed rally and Reclaim the Right to Party party, which went on late and included women DJs

Reclaim the Night 2005 On Friday 25th November 2005, 700 women marched through the streets of central London against rape and male violence and in honour of Andrea Dworkin.

Women on the 2005 march	Women on the 2005 march

Women on the 2005 march	Audience at 2005 rally at University of London Union

Reclaim the Night 2004 2004 marked the first revival of the historic Reclaim the Night march by the London Feminist Network. It was the first women-only RTN march in London since the 1980s. Our march was started by Al Garthwaite, one of the organisers of the first ever Reclaim The Night marches in Britain. 50 women marched from Euston to Cambridge Circus in Soho for speeches and a rendition of the ‘Reclaim The Night’ song by Peggy Seegar.

Placards, drums and feather boas much in evidence	Cambridge Circus, Shaftesbury Avenue

Women on the 2004 march	Women on the 2004 march