Thousands of women took to the streets of central London on Saturday for the 19th annual Million Women Rise march, against male violence against women and girls.
The march, organised by the Black and Global Majority-led women’s collective, set off from Duke Street at noon and arrived at Trafalgar Square for a rally that continued into the evening. Other reports corroborated crowd estimates of thousands, though an exact figure was not confirmed by organisers.
Founded in 2008, Million Women Rise has held the annual march every year since, with this year’s event taking place on the nearest Saturday to International Women’s Day. The route took marchers along Oxford Street, accompanied by African drummers and a marching band, before the crowd gathered for speeches in Trafalgar Square.
Among those who turned out were women of all ages, children, and members of several organisations, including Women Against the Far Right, which had its own bloc within the march. Signs carried by marchers referenced women in Iran and Afghanistan, the Epstein files, Nigel Farage, and Donald Trump.
Speaking at the rally, one of the Million Women Rise organisers addressed the crowd directly on the scale and reach of male violence: “We come together to connect the dots from Iran to Sudan, from Gaza to Goma, from Eritrea to Gambia, from Washington to London, from Whitehall to the White House. From Silicon Valley to those so-called private islands, to social media, there are men who believe we are disposable.”
She added: “We know that violent men are not willing to relinquish their sense of entitlement to our bodies, our minds, our lives. And this is the case whether they are politicians, princes, billionaires, businessmen, tech bosses, religious leaders, prison officers, teachers, filmmakers, police officers, doctors, lawyers, or just ordinary blokes.”
Earlier in the march, organisers paused to read aloud the names of women killed by men in the UK this year. The crowd fell quiet for the reading. Several attendees were visibly moved; the organisers’ voices broke at points during it.
Rimaz Ahmed, speaking on behalf of Women Against the Far Right at the Trafalgar Square rally, addressed the co-opting of feminist language by the far right. “They do not care about women,” she told the crowd. “They don’t care when refugee women are forced onto dangerous journeys because borders are closed to them. They don’t care when migrant women are exploited in low-paid work that keeps our economy running. Their politics was never about women’s liberation. It is about protecting a system that profits from division, exploitation and inequality.”
Natasha, who travelled from south London for the march, said the political climate had made attending feel urgent. “I’ve been angry for a long time,” she said, “but this year feels different. Everything is happening at once, and if I stayed home I’d feel complicit in the silence.”
Priya, 29, a nurse from Hackney, said it was her first march. “I just felt like I couldn’t not come,” she said.
Grace, who attended with her teenage daughter, said she wanted her to witness the demonstration. “I want her to know this is what women do when they’ve had enough,” she said. “We show up.”
The march ended with Trafalgar Square at capacity. Two double-decker buses carrying women who had not yet reached the square arrived; those on board exchanged chants with the crowd below in an electric display before joining it.
The second organiser closed the rally with a direct address to women unable to attend: “We come together to rise for girls and women whose voices are being silenced, who are surviving in the shadows, who feel alone, are isolated and afraid. You are not alone. We are here and we move with and for you.”
She ended: “As long as this violence persists, we will rise, we will resist. When we come together, we are unstoppable.”
The chant Power! Power! Power to the women! closed the rally.
