Students set to take to the streets in annual Fight for the Night march

The event took place on 27 November

Students from universities and colleges across Glasgow are set to take part in the annual Fight for the Night march on 27 November to protest against gender-based violence and show solidarity with all survivors of rape and sexual assault.

The event will be led by Strathclyde’s Student Union and Glasgow University Student Representative Council (SRC), alongside Glasgow Clyde College Students’ Association, Glasgow Caledonian University Students’ Association, and the University of Glasgow’s Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow University Union, and Glasgow University Sports Association.

The event will take place as part of the 16 Days of Activism, an international campaign to raise awareness for gender-based violence, starting on 25 November. This year, the Glasgow march will highlight the ‘Not in Our Name’ campaign, which highlights how gender-based violence is often blamed on marginalised identities through racist, transphobic, and anti-migrant rhetoric.

Last year, the annual Fight for the Night march saw over 250 attendees, with this year’s organisers hoping to double the turnout this November. 

Glasgow’s Fight for the Night march has been happening annually in the city since 2014, which saw the first “These Streets Are Made For Walking” march to protests a series of rape and sex attacks in the city. Since then, the march has evolved through different names, such as Reclaim the Night, before settling with the name “Fight for the Night” in 2019. 

Speaking about the event next month, Duncan Calvert, President at Glasgow Uni SRC, said, “As the Students’ Representative Council at the University of Glasgow, we’re proud to stand alongside students from across the city in calling for an end to gender-based violence. The Fight for the Night march is about solidarity – with survivors, with one another, and with all those demanding change. Tackling gender-based violence requires commitment not just from our institutions and city leaders, but from all of us. We want this march to be both powerful and empowering, and we encourage everyone who believes in a safer, fairer society to join us on 27 November.”

Jo Fitzpatrick, Strathclyde student and Strath Union 16 Days Intern said, “Students from across Glasgow are coming together to demand an end to gender-based violence on campuses and in the wider community. This year, the focus of our campaign is Not in Our Name and in using this, we seek to challenge the harmful misinformation that minority groups are the biggest perpetrators of gender-based violence. The student community refuses to accept the anti-trans and anti-immigrant views that are being justified in the name of women’s safety sitting down. Together, we are standing up and marching to fight for change and in solidarity with all survivors.”

Fraser Brown, President at Strath Union said, “On the 27th of November, Glasgow’s community is marching against gender-based violence on our streets, calling out the hypocrisy of malicious individuals and groups who seek to use such violence to further their own political agendas. Gender-based violence has no place within our society and neither do individuals who use violence as a tool to normalise any type of bigotry and prejudice. “Not In Our Name” encapsulates this message.”

The march will start at 18:30 at the Eldon Street entrance to Kelvingrove Park, before marching through Glasgow city centre to Buchanan Steps. 

March organisers advise participants to dress warm, and note that photographers will be in attendance to capture moments at the march.

You can join the march on Thursday, 27 of November.

Image credit: Adam Cox/Strath Union