I was honoured to have been asked by the National Assembly of Women to represent them at a march and rally organised by Newcastle Unites.

An estimated 600 people took to the streets on Saturday September 9 in a demo organised to oppose a national protest organised by the English Defence League (EDL).

The EDL’s “operation sanctuary protest” was called in response to sentencings in the recent child grooming case.

However, the protest called by EDL proved to be nothing more than an opportunistic attempt to gain public support for their racist and fascist agenda, which completely dominated their rally and appeared to disregard the horrific suffering and abuse women face from vile individuals of many backgrounds, religions and communities.

The EDL was attempting to use horrendous sexual violence crimes against young women to further their own agenda in demonising the Asian and Islamic communities; they were joined by around 70 members and supporters of the EDL, many from outside the city.

They were met with opposition from hundreds of people in Newcastle.

The message from Newcastle was loud and clear: “Justice for survivors of abuse, don’t let racists divide us.” The 600-strong march through the city centre was met with support from bystanders as people held placards stating: “Sexual violence has no race or religion” and joined in chants of: “Justice for survivors, EDL out.”

The statement released by Newcastle Unites was endorsed by many organisations from across north-east England and beyond. The organisers were also sent a message of encouragement from Jeremy Corbyn.

The counter-demonstration was an enormous success and highlighted Newcastle’s long-standing intolerance to racism. The speeches were moving, passionate and sympathetic; they touched on many of the issues faced by women in our communities, not only of sexual exploitation of women, but also further challenges such as cuts to police funding and closure of women’s refuges and support networks, and further recognised that the government needs to be providing safe havens and support for vulnerable women.

Newcastle stated unquestionably that we will not be divided by scapegoating communities or by racism and fear incited by far-right groups such as the EDL. Newcastle will respond to these vile crimes as a united community.

The speech Mollie Brown delivered on behalf of the National Assembly of Women:

In the struggle against racism, fascism and imperialism we will work with all women and other progressive organisations that share these aims; which is why we stand here today and speak out alongside many other organisations in standing up for the brave young women who have suffered these appalling crimes committed in Newcastle, furthermore, we condemn the attempts by far-right groups to make these crimes an issue of race and religion.

First and foremost, we want the victims of abuse to know that we stand, in solidarity alongside them in the bravery they have shown, but also in the recovery and reconstruction of their lives that have been destroyed by the despicable and cowardly crimes committed by the men convicted.

Any man guilty of these horrendous crimes should be brought to justice irrespective of race or religion. We stand firm that any sexual exploitation of women, regardless of background or appearance is never going to be acceptable, in our city, country or world.

However, we will rebuke the claims made by far-right groups that abuse and exploitation is an issue of race or religion. Unfortunately, these sickening crimes against women are happening in many communities at the hands of men from many faiths, upbringings and backgrounds.

While we understand that in this case of exploitation many of the perpetrators were from Asian or Middle Eastern backgrounds this does not mean that they in any way represent the communities they come from.

These communities are just as sickened and appalled at the crimes committed as you and I are and have spoke out against the perpetrators, just as we are today.

We cannot let racism and fascism divide us, the horrendous attempts by the EDL and other far-right groups that are using these horrific crimes to gain support from the public, incite hatred and fear is not only opportunistic and divisive but completely overshadows the respect and justice the survivors of these exploitative crimes deserve.

We need to work together to ensure that all abusers guilty for the inhumane, devastating and sadistic crimes committed against women are brought to justice.

But, if not just as, but more importantly now, we need to work together as a whole community in Newcastle and in other cities across the country to prevent these horrific crimes from happening to more vulnerable young women.

In the aftermath of this case it is imperative that we ensure that the victims of these crimes and other women that are suffering in silence are given the courage to come forward, that they feel that they have somewhere safe to turn to, we need to ensure that these women aren’t left to feel alone and venerable and we need to force our government offer these resources freely to women.

Yet worryingly, we have seen the closure of many safe havens all over the country, at a time when such resources are vital, women’s refuges are being closed, resources that are badly needed in supporting and offering refuge to abused women are closing due to lack of funding.

This is something that must be tackled head on as a united community, not a community divided by hate, racism and fear.

The National Assembly of Women stands firm that no community, race or religion are responsible for these attacks on women, neither should they be scapegoated, blamed, alienated and punished for the crimes committed by these evil individuals.

The National Assembly of Women will long continue to fight for the equality of women, in doing that we will continue the struggle against racism and fascism. We need to stand together to tackle these struggles, we cannot and must not let racism divide us.

The National Assembly of Women was founded in 1954 to work for full social, economic, legal, political and cultural independence, equality for women irrespective of age, race, religion, philosophical belief, sexual orientation or nationality.