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A march showing solidarity for the survivors of sexual assault has had to be cancelled at the last minute because of 'lack of support' from Glasgow City Council and Police Scotland.

These Streets Were Made for Walking was planned for tonight (Saturday, March 25) and hundreds of people were expected for the second march of its kind to take place in Glasgow.

Like the first march, organisers Amanda Johnston and Ashley Crossan from the south side, launched the march to “send a message to both the perpetrators and the authorities” after a spate of assaults in the Queens Park area.

However, Amanda and Ashley have had to pull the plug on tonight's events due to what they claim is 'lack of support from authorities', after being given a notice from council officials to pay Public Liability Insurance, as well as being told by Police Scotland that they face prosecution if the march goes ahead.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council told Glasgow Live needing Public Liability Insurance is 'made clear' from the start of any permission process.

He added: "The requirement for suitable insurance is for the protection of everyone involved - and is made absolutely clear from the very start of the permission process.



"Our events team supports hundreds of community events every year and cans assist organisers if they are unsure what cover they need."

Writing with 'heavy hearts' on their Facebook page, Amanda said: "The reasons for this very reluctant decision are twofold; Glasgow City Council - 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 1 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 that this is a legality, and that by the council denying us permission to use their park...this does not strictly mean that we can't use it.. It is a public park after all. But but not giving us official permission, it means we cannot work with them as we had hoped.

"Police Scotland - 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, have 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 Ashley and Amanda thanked everyone for their support and have vowed to work out a way to get the march organised again.

The first march in 2014 attracted nearly 5,000 people onto the streets of the city in solidarity.

The march was due to begin at 8.30pm from Queens Park.