In response to the recent news stories of violence against women and girls, women’s rights NGO WMW Jamaica, along with the University of the West Indies (UWI) Institute of Gender and Development Studies (IGDS), Mona, will come together to stage a two-hour peaceful protest against violence against women and girls on Thursday, May 22.

The theme for the protest is “Enough is Enough: No More Violence, No More Silence”.

On this day, the organisations ask individuals to wear black and join them in peacefully standing vigilant and bearing placards during their lunchtime from 12pm to 2pm at the four-way intersection of Tom Redcam, Oxford and Old Hope Road, Kingston.

They will be adding a visual element to the protest in the form of a gallery running along the wall of Tom Redcam Drive between Old Hope Road and Arthur Wint, where they will mount foam boards depicting messages of solidarity and screenshots of recent news stories, creating an awareness-raising gallery.

Both groups noted that the very brutal nature of recent reports of violence against women and children have left them and their communities feeling a need to speak out and stand in solidarity with the nurses, with the University of Technology students, and with the families of Kelsey Ferrigon and Anisa Dilworth. 

They are encouraging the entire nation to join them in wearing black on Thursday as a symbol of their dissatisfaction with the violent acts, empathy with the affected families, and resolution to do more to help reduce and prevent gender-based violence.