'It's 2023 - nobody should be threatening our will to live and our ability to walk and move': Reclaim the Night returns to Manchester's streets

The sprawling streets of Manchester are no stranger to protest - and every November, one night belongs to a march born over 40 years ago.

Reclaim the Night was introduced in 1977 in response to the police response to the Yorkshire Ripper murders, which instructed women to stay home after dark. That night, women took to the streets in cities across the UK to show their anger. Today, the impetus changes but the message stays the same - women have a right to be safe at night.

Thousands of people of all genders marched tonight (Wednesday November 29) from Manchester University Students' Union through the city centre. As they walked down Oxford Road they held banners and shouted chants including 'Whose streets? Our streets' and 'My body, my choice'.

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"I don't think there's anything more important than being out on this march tonight, representing women who have been sexually oppressed by male violence all these years," student Rachel, 19, told the Manchester Evening News. "That's what we're fighting against. We're sick of it.

"We're marching tonight to show that the nights are ours. Nobody else should be threatening our will to live and our ability to walk and move. It's an absolute joke in 2023."

This year's event was centred around the theme 'Convince Me Not', focusing on consent and coercion. Speaking to the MEN before the event, Manchester SU Wellbeing and Liberation officer Aisha Akram said there was still a 'stigma' around speaking about coercion.

"I think some people don't know what counts as coercion,