A vigil to remember all of the women in the UK who have been killed by a man will take place on Twickenham Green on Monday.
The vigil will be hosted by the Richmond branch of the Women’s Equality Party (WEP) at 6pm on 4 October.
Attendees are asked to gather by the memorial bench for Amélie Delagrange, who was murdered by Levi Bellfield and found on Twickenham Green.
To date this year, 109 women in the UK have been murdered by men, which averages three every week.
Head of campaigns for Richmond WEP, Jill Lorimer, said: “Our point is that male violence towards women needs to be something that the police, press, and politicians talk about every day.
“When Sarah Everard was murdered, the press got very agitated about it, the politicians got very agitated about it.
“They ran the story for several weeks, and lots of promises were made and men were committing to changing their behaviour.
“But nothing actually happened, none of the promises were fulfilled.
“If you can imagine three men a week being murdered by women, I think people would be getting a little bit more agitated about it.
“So whilst we believe that every single instance is a tragedy and should get as much awareness as any other because they’re all as important as each other, we want to draw attention to the big picture.
“This is a social epidemic where men think it is okay to be violent towards women.”
The campaigner also confirmed that Richmond branch leader, Caroline Rayfield, will be giving a speech at the vigil.
The party will now hold a vigil on the first Monday of every month for the foreseeable future.
Richmond WEP held its first vigil on Twickenham Green on 2 September, where there was a small police presence.
Lorimer said the police were a discreet presence and explained that they were there to protect the attendees rather than enforce crowd control.
The police also made themselves available if anyone wanted to talk to them about domestic violence.
In their fight to end male violence against women, Richmond WEP successfully campaigned for Richmond Council to become White Ribbon Accredited.
White Ribbon UK is a charity that aims to end male violence towards women by engaging with men and boys to take a stance against the violence.
This involves talking in the workplace, to other men, and to women, about how violence towards women is unacceptable.
Find out more about the vigil or confirm your attendance here.
Featured image credit: Richmond WEP
