For the first time today, thousands of people across 22 locations spread across the UK marched for women’s rights including violence against women and girls which has been declared as a “national emergency”.
Recent statistics show that over one million crimes of violence against women and girls have been recorded in a single year, which accounts for 20% of all police-recorded crimes.
Yet here in Merseyside, 74 women and girls have been murdered on Merseyside since 2009 and in 2022/23 the region saw the worst record of femicide in the whole country.
At a vigil back in November, those victim’s names were read out including Olivia Pratt Korbel, Ava White, Elle Edwards and Ashley Dale.
Bebe King, Alice Dasilva Aguiar and Elsie Dot Stancombe all died during the knife attack.
And more recently, the nation has mourned the loss of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva who were brutally killed in Southport in July last year.
Leanne Lucas, who was overseeing a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class, survived this horrific attack after shielding two girls from the knifeman but did suffer serious stab wounds.
Today in Liverpool, Leanne stood side-by-side with hundreds of supporters to show solidarity for women’s rights and also called for there to be systemic changes.
