Riders protest for safer cycling for women in London

Hundreds of people joined the protest and rode past London landmarks

Protesters have ridden through London calling for cycling to be made safer for women in the city.

Hundreds of people took part in the ride which went past landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Marble Arch and Whitehall.

Organisers said women were "put off cycling by a lack of safe routes, dangerous driving and harassment".

London's mayor Sadiq Khan said he wanted "women to feel safe wherever they are in London".

The London Cycling Campaign's (LCC) Women's Network organised the event alongside the Joyriders women's cycling organisation and the Londra Bisiklet Klubu, which is a riding group mainly run by and for members of London's Turkish/Kurdish community, ahead of International Women's Day.

Less than a third of London's cycle trips are by women, despite being 51% of the population, according to LCC.

Organisers said they wanted to "highlight the gender gap in cycling in London"

Organisers said there was a carnival atmosphere during the 90-minute protest ride which included people dressed as suffragettes and a unicorn, cyclists who brought their cats and dogs along in baskets and a woman on a penny farthing.

Eilidh Murray, of the LCC Women's Network steering group, said: "As women from a range of backgrounds, we know being able to travel cheaply and independently by bike can bring us confidence, health and freedom. But we're being put off cycling by a lack of safe routes, dangerous driving, harassment and more. We need the mayor to make using a bike a safe, everyday choice."

The protesters said unless changes were made, London was "doomed to a car-dependent city"

London's mayor Sadiq Khan said: "I want women to feel safe wherever they are in London, and that includes on our roads.

"We must continue to break down the barriers to cycling faced by women and girls and I'm doing all I can to make active travel around the city as accessible and safe as possible.

"That's why I'm delighted that we've built hundreds of kilometres of new or upgraded cycle routes since the pandemic, introduced e-bikes to the Santander Cycles scheme, and completed work to make some of the capital's most dangerous and intimidating junctions safer."

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