DOZENS of school pupils and young people staged a peaceful protest this afternoon to take a stand against sexual harassment.
Several groups gathered on Hove Lawns next to the Peace Statue at about 1pm today for the "Unite for Women Strike", as police officers patrolled the area.
School pupils ditched lessons to attend the strike and some brought placards saying "educate the boys".
One protester, a 19-year-old girl, said she was there to take a stand because all her friends had experienced some form of sexual harassment.
She said: "You can ask any woman and they have all got a story.
"A lot of men get away with it all of the time which they really shouldn't.
"It's happened to me at my work, and my boss just said to tell them if it happened again.
"I feel like if you work in hospitality especially, you will get a lot of that.
"We've all been sexually harassed, on a daily basis."
Another protester, 20 and from Brighton, said she takes precautions to feel safe when out by herself.
She said: "I think it's just scary how a woman simply can't walk home alone without feeling unsafe.
"These girls will always message me when I'm walking home to check I'm OK, and I will often pretend to be talking to someone on my phone.
"I don't like the fact that I can't walk somewhere safely in the dark."
Another added that since the death of Sarah Everard, she had noticed a change in attitudes towards her own safety.
The 19-year-old said: "Over the past few weeks my mum has asked me not to go to the local shop after dark and my boyfriend was also saying the same.
"The shop is two minutes away and there should be no problem me going there. Women should be able to leave their houses and not feel scared."
On Monday, pupils at Cardinal Newman School in Hove walked out of lessons in a spontaneous demonstration in solidarity with Reclaim the Streets protests across the country, sparked by the death of Sarah Everard.
It comes after an outpouring of allegations were made by school pupils across the country about sexual harassment.
Thousands of claims have been made on the Everyone's Invited website, a site where people can anonymously share their experiences of abuse.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson labelled the allegations "shocking and abhorrent".
He said in a tweet:"Any victim of these sickening acts that we've seen reported, should raise their concerns with someone they trust, whether that's a family member or friend, a teacher, social worker, or the police."
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