Campaigners marched through Blackpool to highlight issues of violence towards women - including spiking in town centre night clubs.
The Reclaim The Streets protest took place on Friday 8 December 2023. It included a moving speech from councillor Paula Burdess, and talks from other key figures from local charities and council initiatives.
The Reclaim The Streets protest took place on Friday 8 December 2023. It included a moving speech from councillor Paula Burdess, and talks from other key figures from local charities and council initiatives.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 - Why do we work? - Save the streets!
00:02 - When do we work it? - Now!
00:04 - Why do we work? - Save the streets!
00:06 - When do we work it? - Now!
00:08 For me it's very significant that we're walking through Blackpool Town Centre
00:12 because overwhelmingly that's where these stories are reported in the night time economy.
00:17 So to be going out on a Friday night is brave, but we have safety in numbers.
00:23 Blackpool Town Centre at night time is not always a safe place to be.
00:27 - Why do we work? - Now!
00:30 One in three women still experience some form of violence or harm
00:36 and this is just kind of unfortunately where we're at still.
00:40 And that hasn't improved in terms of those statistics in the last ten years
00:45 when we've been recording that data.
00:48 So it's just unfortunate that we're still in the same position.
00:51 We hear a lot of people talking about it.
00:53 People make a lot of noise, but we're still in the same position.
00:58 I just don't want our young women and girls having to grow up and live in a world
01:07 where sexual harassment, violence and not feeling safe is seen as a norm.
01:11 And all the work in Blackpool, and not just in the council,
01:14 but by some of our amazing organisations, and some here tonight as well,
01:18 will help to ensure that women and girls feel safe in Blackpool.
01:22 And we have to tell our children that it is not OK.
01:26 That the way we speak to each other and the way we relate to each other
01:30 is really important.
01:32 And we have to respect each other's space, each other's dignity.
01:36 We have to do that and we have to educate our children.
01:40 In my background, my family background, there's domestic violence.
01:44 And those conversations weren't had.
01:47 And me and my siblings all have the memory of that.
01:51 And in families, we do have to have that conversation too.
01:56 That it may be happening, but it's absolutely not OK.
01:59 Because it sets the kind of level that our children are going to accept
02:04 in relationships themselves.
02:06 And we are key to breaking that cycle.
02:13 Spiking incidents happen so regularly,
02:17 we are getting more and more of them on the map.
02:20 Recently we had 15 reported in one bar in particular,
02:24 which this is one of them.
02:27 A 30-year-old woman in a bar on Talbot Road
02:30 tells us that while she was out with girlfriends,
02:33 one of her friends was spiked on the floor.
02:36 Staff and management fobbed it off.
02:38 Instead of helping, they chucked her friend out.
02:41 And it's disgusting that venues can operate this way.
02:44 Why are we putting these stories on the map?
02:47 Women have had conversations, told their friends,
02:50 their experiences for millennia.
02:53 They don't always report it to authorities.
02:56 They don't always do as, you know, Buller was asking us to.
03:01 Because we don't feel like anything's going to happen.
03:04 This map is a way for women to find that catharsis
03:08 of putting the story out there,
03:11 feeling like it's being held to account
03:14 if they don't feel that they can go to authorities.
03:17 And the sense of community that we find by doing that has been amazing.
03:23 We also believe we are the only local authority
03:30 to be using civil tools and powers in cases of domestic abuse.
03:34 The issuing of Community Protection Warnings, or CPWs,
03:38 and Community Protection Notices, CPNs,
03:41 is proving useful in instances where a perpetrator's behaviour
03:45 has not reached a threshold for arrest
03:48 and preventative restrictive conditions are not in place.
03:51 Victims and their families are reporting towards very positive outcomes
03:54 and they are feeling safe at home.
03:57 We are also, again, we believe, the first local authority in the country
04:01 to be providing video doorbells as part of a home safety check
04:04 to ensure victims can remain in their homes.
04:07 We're not uprooting children so they have to change schools, etc.
04:10 And the victims can remain in their homes by making it safe and secure
04:13 and their home is free from fear.
04:16 Nearly 400 video doorbells have now been fitted
04:19 and if, unfortunately, bail conditions have been breached
04:22 and it's happened four times out of 400 cases,
04:25 there is evidence for the police to act.
04:28 And there's one guy that's been recalled to prison
04:31 because of the evidence from the video doorbell.
04:34 So what the Green Dot Bystander Programme is all about
04:43 is empowering people and giving them the tools to be active bystanders.
04:46 Ask someone to get involved so that someone won't become harmed.
04:49 Or you can just distract the situation.
04:52 You could spill a drink, walk over and say,
04:55 "Can I borrow your phone for a minute?"
04:58 I know that my colleague Vicky always shares a story in our training
05:01 that she ran up to a girl and was like, "Oh my god, I haven't seen you in ages!"
05:04 She had absolutely no clue who she was.
05:07 But that got that woman out of that situation and helped to protect her from harm.
05:10 And that's what the Green Dot Programme is all about,
05:13 is giving people the tools that you can actually use in your everyday lives
05:16 to stop people getting hurt.
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