Armley Woman's Fight to Stamp out Violence in Leeds
People in Leeds are coming together today to take a stand against violence towards women and girls.
As part of the One Billion Rising campaign, a Vday event's being held at Morley Town Hall to raise awareness of the fact that one in three women will be raped or seriously beaten in their lifetime.
It's been organised by Priya Sidarh, a law student from Armley.
She set up One Billion Rising Leeds last year to raise awareness of the important work being done by local charities for victims of violence.
Priya hopes today’s event will encourage victims not to suffer in silence:
“People who’ve not been affected by it will be shocked that it’s affecting so many people around us.
“But it’s important to speak out, because people who are affected often live with the feeling that they’re the only ones. It’s not a one person issue, if it’s affecting that many people then it’s everybody’s responsibility to come together and say that it has to change.”
The event will celebrate the work of eight local charities including Genesis, Together Women and SARSVL.
It’ll take place from 3.30pm and includes live music and poetry.
“It will just be a coming together of the community to say that we’re not going to stand for this level of violence in our community,” says Priya.
“We’re the people of Leeds and we’re not going to allow that to continue.
“The outcome will hopefully be an increased support for our charities that are already doing fantastic work.”