Two days a after a 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped in a public park in South Delhi, around 200 student protesters gathered on Wednesday near Lady Shri Ram College for Women, located close to the incident site, in solidarity with the victim of the incident and to raise concern about women’s safety in the area.While Lady Shri Ram college is the closest to the site, the protesters also included students from other prominent Delhi University women colleges including Miranda House and Gargi College.“Down with the patriarchy,” shouted the students, who also said that safety concerns in the vicinity have long been ignored. The protest began from the backside lane at LSR and reached the police ‘pink booth’ in the vicinity of the college.Also Read | ‘Few PCR vans, dark roads’: Delhi’s LSR students flag safety gaps after rape near campusStanding at the forefront of the protest, one of the organisers, who had masked her face with a yellow scarf to shield her identity, said, “This is not an LSR issue… We are our own voice. It’s not the first time that it is happening and men have the audacity to blame women for stepping out at night and only know how to police women.” Students protest against the Gangrape at a park in the capital New Delhi on Wednesday. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)Ananya, a first-year student at the college, said, “I have to often leave college late in the evening after theatre practice and it’s so unsafe outside. Men near this booth stand and masturbate when they see female students.”The protest wound its way from the LSR back gate, past the neighboring institutions on the Ring Road stretch, including the Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing (RAKCON).View this post on InstagramThe students residing in the RAKCON hostel in Lajpat Nagar also spoke about navigating the neighbourhood amid heightened safety concerns following the incident.Story continues below this adNgawang Gatso, a first-year B.Sc Nursing student from Uttarakhand, said, “I just joined recently, it’s only been our first year here. The teachers have clearly warned us that whenever we need to step outside the campus, we must move only in groups. Even for small errands, like stepping out today to buy our textbooks, we made sure to go together.”Tenzing Pamo, who is also a first-year B.Sc Nursing student at the college said, “We stay inside the campus hostel, but stepping out is unavoidable for daily necessities. After the warning, we went in a group to get our books today. We definitely feel much more secure when we step outside together rather than going alone.” Express Photo by Tashi TobgyalYangzom, who is their batchmate and a first-year B.Sc Nursing student hailing from Tibet, said, “It has barely been a day since we arrived, and the very first instruction we received was about stepping out cautiously. With everything happening in the area, our seniors and faculty emphasised that no one should walk around alone outside the gates.”Also Read | 142 acres of darkness, security gaps: Inside South Delhi park where teen was gangrapedBut these concerns, students of the area say, are not new. An LSR alumni from the 2021 batch, who lives in Amar Colony and has seen the campus closely for years, said, “The issues are not new. Even in our time women’s safety was a key concern. Now the situation has worsened.”Story continues below this adStudents from Dr BR Ambedkar University (AUD) and few DU faculty members also took part in the solidarity march.