Organisers of a peaceful women’s safety march in Glasgow’s Southside - which was to take place tonight - have announced “with a heavy heart” that the event has been cancelled.

‘Lack of support’ from Glasgow City Council and the threat of prosecution and fines from Police Scotland have been cited as the reasons.

Campaigners Amanda Johnston and Ashley Crossan have issued a statement on the disappointing news regarding the ‘These Streets Were Made For Walking’ (TSWMFW) event.

The march’s aim was to defend women’s right to walk the city’s streets without fear of sexual assault two years after a similar event saw thousands turn out in the area.

Glasgow Times:

Amanda and Ashley explained: “The council asked us to cover our event with Public Liability Insurance. We didn’t have this the last time, but their justification for this is because we are using a small stretch of a council-owned public park and, therefore, the council, and ourselves would be liable if anything were to happen to anyone who turns up on the night.

“They brought this information to us at a very late stage, about one week before the event.

“Even after we had given them six weeks’ notice that it was going ahead - two weeks more than legally required.

“We are aware this is a legality, and that by the council denying us permission to use their park, this does not strictly mean we can’t use it.

“It is a public park after all, but by not giving us official permission, it means we cannot work with them as we had hoped.”

Regarding the issue with Police Scotland, they added: “The community police - who we were in contact with at the early stages of the event - have, upon seeing the council’s denial of permission to use the park, now issued us with a notice.

“This notice states that if we go ahead with the walk, we will face prosecution for up to three months, and a fine of £500.

“It also stipulates that the police will fine anyone else who turns up to the event £200 if they fail to desist when the constables ask them to leave.”

Both young women took it upon themselves to start the campaign in the wake of a number of sexual attacks and rapes in the community in 2014.

Glasgow Times:

With the success of that event which saw a “peaceful and humbling walk” take place through the streets of Govanhill, the pair was keen to host another tonight to show support to survivors of such crimes in Glasgow and beyond.

“All we wanted was to be able to walk our streets in peace,” they added.

“It is unfortunate that we don’t have the support from the authorities and we are extremely disappointed that they are issuing us with blanket statements which they would give to mass, organised protests, without looking at the nature of our event, what it’s for, whom it supports, and the lack of trouble at our last event.

“We are deeply sorry about this, but we can’t really see any way around it. We are trying to figure out what we can do to keep our campaign afloat.

“We just want to say, at this stage, that we are so, very appreciative of all the support we’ve received throughout the past six weeks.”