Zara Aleena just wanted to walk home. We will keep marching until women are safe on our streets

A vigil in memory of Sabina Nessa, and against violence against women, in Kidbrooke, south London, 25 February 2022. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

I wish today’s vigil didn’t have to happen. The murdered woman’s name, Zara Aleena, becomes another that we remember, joining the growing list of women who will never meet each other but who find themselves grouped together, with little in common but the fact that they never made it home.

Since the murder of Sarah Everard, vigils have become symbols of resistance to male violence in the UK. A way not just to remember and mourn, but for women to mobilise. By standing shoulder to shoulder, we take up space, our physical presence defying a status quo that means these public spaces where we meet are not always safe spaces for women to be.