Amsterdam night life fights violence against women as "claim the night" signs appear
Amsterdam’s nightlife will raise awareness of violence against women and girls on Tuesday night. From 10:00 p.m., various clubs and bars will be illuminated in orange with messages from a column by author Nienke ‘s Gravemade. The first billboards and signs for the “claim the night” campaign, drawing attention to the same issue, also appeared in various Dutch cities on Sunday.
Both initiatives are a reaction to the murder of 17-year-old Lisa from Abcoude. A man brutally murdered the teen girl in Duivendrecht early on Wednesday morning as she biked home from a night out with friends in Amsterdam. The police arrested a 22-year-old man for her murder. He is also suspected of raping a woman in Amsterdam on August 15 and attempting to sexually attack another woman five days before that. Another man also raped a woman in broad daylight in Zeist.
The awareness campaign in Amsterdam’s nightlife is the initiative of Night Mayor Freek Wallagh and the Amsterdam Clubs Consultation (OAC). “Every eight days, a woman is murdered in the Netherlands,” the organizers told RTL Nieuws. Structural change is needed to make women feel safe in the city and nightlife, they believe. They chose orange for their campaign because it is the color that the United Nations uses as a symbol for a future without violence against women.
The first digital billboards with the message “We claim the night, let home come home safely” also appeared in various locations across the country on Sunday afternoon. The message will eventually appear on over 80 billboards along the highway, at train stations throughout the country, and on various websites, initiator Danique de Jong told NU.nl.
She hopes to keep the topic of women’s safety in everyone’s minds. “Now we have to keep talking about it and make a difference,” De Jong said. “We have to offer men a perspective for action. Because it’s a men’s problem.”
De Jong launched the campaign on Friday and quickly raised over €421,000 through crowdfunding to display the message.
