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Just before everything kicked off: 

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If you wish to use any of these images, you can grab the embed code etc from flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahnicklin/

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If you wish to use any of these images, you can grab the embed code etc from flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahnicklin/

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 "Women wishing to participate are asked to assemble at Whitehall place at 6pm. The march will then proceed to the Camden Centre, Kings Cross, where a mixed-gender rally will take place, with stalls, food, speakers and music until the small hours. Men wishing to show solidarity are encouraged by the London Pro-Feminist Network to attend a vigil at the Edith Cavell memorial near Trafalgar Square at 6pm before meeting the rally at the Camden Centre." (From the RTN press release)

The meeting place - 6pm 21.11.09:

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"As well as marching more generally against male violence, Reclaim the Night 2009, will march against rape and male violence, will bring thousands of women together to celebrate a landmark legal ruling. The bill in question, the Policing and Crime Bill, contained Clause 14, which concerned the onus of criminality on those who fuel the demand for prostitution and trafficking - punters."

This means that it will soon be an offence to purchase or attempt to purchase sexual services from someone in prostitution who has been forced or coerced. For the first time the eyes of the law are fixed on the punters, rather than those largely involved in prostitution by force or coercion, be that by drugs, violence, rape or poverty. It is now up to the punter to discover whether or not coercion had been involved: ignorance is not an excuse.

"This will send a message worldwide that Britain’s women are for sale no more, as our country joins Nordic partners such as Sweden and Norway in tackling prostitution and trafficking at source by tackling the demand."

The news has been hailed as a triumph for women’s rights by the London Feminist Network, organisers of Reclaim the Night.

Finn Mackay, founder of the LFN says: “We’re living in a country where over two-thirds of those in street prostitution have faced physical assault. Up to 75% of those in street prostitution in the UK enter into it before their 18th birthday; indeed, the global average age of entry into prostitution is only 14 years old. Worldwide research shows that around 90% of those in prostitution wish to leave immediately if they could find another source of income.

“These are the kinds of facts that tend to be ignored by our society, and by our laws, in favour of a less troubling fantasy image, such as the recent media frenzy over Belle De Jour’s identity – while the Policing & Crime Bill remains virtually un-commented.

This year the march will be led by Europe’s largest all-women drumming band SheBoom, all the way from Glasgow to take back the night in London and make sure the messages of the march are heard.

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On Saturday the 21st of November, I will be attending the London Reclaim the Night protest. I will be hastagging that content #RTNLondon (I can't yet find info on another tag, if it does change, I'll note it here), and posting the content here asap. I will also follow up with some decent cuts of video etc., if you want to use any of this material for any feminist or VAW cause, please feel free, attribute as per the CC license on the left panel. If you want the short link for this posterous, use http://bit.ly/RTNLondon and if you want more information about Reclaim the Night, see http://reclaimthenight.org, or check out my recent blog post on male violence.

If any one else wants to contribute to the posterous, all you have to do is send your content to a particular email address. Contact me hannah_nicklin [at] hotmail.com if you want to.

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