The Scottish Parliament will be the location of a memorial protest today on the anniversary of Sarah Everard's murder, with women gathering to demand change.
A rally is planned to remember Ms Everard – the young woman who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by serving Met police officer Wayne Couzens as she walked home in south London last year.
Politicians are also set to attend to support the protest in the Scottish capital on the one year anniversary of the 33-year-old’s killing.
READ MORE: Sarah Everard’s family say they miss her ‘all the time’ on anniversary of her murder
SNP MP Hannah Bardell and Labour MSPs Monica Lennon Pauline McNeill will stand alongside protesters outside Holyrood on Thursday. All three are expected to speak at the event, as well as Rape Crisis chief Sandy Brindley.
One of the organisers behind the protest is Alice Jackson who is founder of Strut safe – an organistion set up in the wake of Ms Everard’s murder.
Strut safe has volunteers providing a free service to help women walk home safely in Edinburgh, along with phone support in the rest of the UK.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Ms Jackson said: “Today’s protest is not only demanding change and mourning the countless others lost to violence, but it is to demonstrate that progress is inevitable, it is the only path we will accept.
“It is to let those in Holyrood and wider society know that there is no place in our society for those who perpetrate violence, for those who protect the people who perpetrate it and encourage it.
“So, we are just asking people to join us, to come together with us.”
Ms Everard’s murder in March 2021 “exposed the gravity of the situation in terms of how much misogyny there is in our culture, the brutality of misogynistic violence that many of us are constantly threatened by and suffer”, Ms Jackson added.
She said: “It has served as a reminder for many and a wake-up call for so many of us that we are not protected or valued by some of the institutions that claim to do so.
“In the year since her passing we have lost so many more to violence, despite promises after her murder that her death would incite meaningful change.”
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