Women personally touched by domestic violence had proudly held up the banner for White Ribbon Day.
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But just a step behind the courageous few, it was men who engulfed the march into Brisbane Street mall on Friday.
They came all walks of life: Tasmania Police, Tasmania Fire Service, civic leaders, migrants, young and old – and really everyday people.
That’s just the movement, which stopped traffic and turned passing shoppers into curious onlookers.
White Ribbon Day is a male initiative to stand up against domestic violence.
White Ribbon ambassador police commander Brett Smith believed men were hearing the message.
But he was quick to point out that domestic violence figures against women in the North were slightly up (250 to 253 incidents) on last year.
“What’s important is it’s men’s day to say no to violence against women – that’s what the day’s about,” he said. “It’s about men being role models in the community, demonstrating the commitment to violence against women.”
Royal Flying Doctor Service chief executive John Kirwan spoke at the rally in the mall from the perspective of dealing with the end result of cases in the health industry.
He said the data not improving was a “worrying bit”.
“This is a classic example if we get it right, it would be seen as a good primary health intervention,” he said.
“That is if you can stop domestic violence, stop men’s violence against women, of which is considerable and disproportionate, it just means we can take pressure off the health workers.”