Over 60 people took part in the Time’s Up Cambridge Edition demonstration outside the University Library today. The action started at 2pm, where the crowd, mainly consisting of women, wore black and gathered outside the library’s main entrance to show solidarity with the campaign to end sexual harassment.

Harriet Fisher, a theology student at King’s College, started the Cambridge campaign after being inspired by the Golden Globe awards, where women and men wore black in solidarity with the campaign. Time’s Up works for an end to sexual violence in the entertainment and other industries, with a legal defence fund that has raised $18 million since it was launched a month ago. The official website states, “from movie sets to farm fields to boardrooms alike, we envision nationwide leadership that reflects the world in which we live”.

The initiative is backed by stars such as Natalie Portman and Emma Watson and is in effect acting in support of the broader #MeToo campaign, which was sparked by accusations about Hollywood’s “casting-couch” system of sexual harassment and gender-pay inequality.

The campaign has inspired localised ‘editions’, such as in Cambridge, where supporters are encouraged to hold their own demonstrations. Campaigns have also been started in Leeds, Oxford and Liverpool.

The Cambridge crowd predictably drew attention from onlookers and students going into the library, especially when they gathered in rows and yelled, all at once, “Time's up, Cambridge.”

The demonstration comes at a time of increasing awareness of the importance of ending all sexual violence. The University's Breaking The Silence Campaign, launched in October, aims to make it easier to report incidents of sexual violence. As part of this initiative, the university launched an anonymous reporting system for sexual harassment/assault in order to collect data on the issue.

Speaking to Varsity at the demonstration, Isla Ziyat, a University student, said “I’ve come out to show solidarity with the women who experience sexual harassment.”

“Most women experience sexual harassment at some point in their lives, and there is no place for it in the 21st century,” she added

She said she was wearing black “because it’s a statement” and “shows that we all have the same feelings”. When asked what the end goal of the movement might be, she said “to raise awareness”, with the end goal “to live in a world where there is no sexual harassment.”

“The more people open up about it [sexual assault], which is a very brave thing to do in the first place, the more other people join in and open up, and you get to see how big the problem sexual harassment is.”

Fisher said she is aiming to spread the campaign to other universities, working with friends to create “a nationwide movement to show solidarity”.