Liverpool Pier Head
Over 100 flowers dropped into Pier Head canal to mark tragic deaths of domestic violence victims
City remembers women who lose their lives to violence on UN Day of Elimination of Violence Towards Women
Alexandra Genova
Flowers to mark UN Day of Elimination of Violence Towards Women
Get the inside track on the political scene with Liam Thorp's weekly email, The Merseyside Report
One-hundred-and-four white and orange flowers were dropped into the Pier Head canal to represent the two women a week who lose their lives to domestic violence in England and Wales.
This morning - on the UN Day of Elimination of Violence Towards Women – people attended a short ceremony and watched as the flowers were dropped into the canal link by the Liver Building.
The Cunard Building and St George's Hall will both be lit up orange this evening to mark the day.
The ceremony marked the start of 16 days of activism which will also see campaigners from ActionAid converge on the statue of Bessie Braddock at Lime Street station this Saturday at 2.30pm, and adorn it with a red sash as part of their "fearless women" campaign.
The former Liverpool city councillor and MP, who died in 1970, was an ardent socialist and fiery campaigner particularly in the fields of maternity, child welfare and youth crime.
Mrs Bessie Braddock MP Seen here visiting one of the slum areas in Liverpool Woman Member of Parliament Poverty 1962
Cllr Emily Spurrell, Mayoral lead for community safety, said: "This is a really important issue which is often hidden and unreported because of fear of the consequences.
"More than a third of women and girls experience some form of physical and or sexual violence in their lifetime and most of the time it is from someone they know. Violence in any form towards women is not inevitable or predictable – it can and must be stopped.
"Domestic abuse does not just affect the victim, but children as well and Department of Health figures show at least 750,000 children a year witness it with many being abused by the same perpetrator.
"It's time to say enough is enough. Violence against women is completely avoidable and we all need to take responsibility to see it end. And we start with remembering all those women and girls who have died simply because they are women."
Kate Menear from ActionAid said: "Bessie Braddock dedicated her life to helping others, through her work as a social activist in Liverpool in her early years, as a Liverpool Labour councillor in the 1930s and during the Second World War, when she left her union post to join the Liverpool Ambulance Service as a driver, attached to G Division which included driving through major air raids in the city during World War Two.
"She was fearless and the people of Liverpool can be too."
If you are being abused or suffering indirectly as the result of abuse, call the Women's Aid 24 hour helpline on 0808 2000 247. The Women's Aid website also has a directory of local domestic violence services in Merseyside and the wider North West.
If you are abusive and/or violent towards your partner and wish to seek help, visit the Respect Phoneline website or call 0808 802 4040 confidentially (free from landlines and most mobile phones).
Liver Building