PROTESTERS will take to the streets to highlight women’s safety from violence and sex attacks.

Reclaim the Night is being organised by The Survivors Movement for victims of abuse, domestic and sexual violence in Brighton.

Hundreds are expected to join the march through the city on Friday this week.

It follows news that Sussex Police is dealing with twice as many rapes as were being reported five years ago.

Chief Constable Giles York said the force is now responding to 35 rape reports across the county every week.

Organisers of the protest march said: “The event encourages people to collectively march through the centre of Brighton to draw attention to how unsafe our streets still feel for many of us.

“Over the summer we have seen and heard a worrying number of stories about sexual harassment and attacks throughout the city.

“With the nights now getting darker many of us know what it feels like to feel unsafe moving throughout our city.

“Now is the time to march to take back our streets.”

Last month Mohammed Joinal, 29, of West Street, Sompting, was jailed for 16 years for raping a woman on Brighton beach, and a woman in St George’s Road.

The first Reclaim the Night march took place in Leeds in 1977 in the wake of the Yorkshire Ripper killings. Killer Peter Sutcliffe was jailed for life.

Police at the time were seeking to enforce a curfew for women at night but critics said the policy held women responsible instead of the killer.

The first march in Brighton took place in 2012 by the Brighton Feminist Collective, and has continued since.

Organisers added: “Not only do we march against street harassment and sexual violence, reclaiming spaces that are traditionally off-limits to lone women, but we seek to fundraise for our local Rape Crisis Centre and Survivors’ Network.

“We want to create an atmosphere of belief and support for survivors.”

The march will gather at 6pm at Brighton Railway Station, and will march to a rally at the Old Steine.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

It will be followed by a party event at Patterns nightclub on the seafront.

For more information search for Reclaim The Night Brighton 2019 on Facebook or email thesurvivorsmovement@gmail.com.