Advocates for victims of domestic violence held their annual “Take Back The Night” rally at the state Capitol in Bismarck.
But this rally was different. Instead of marching around the Capitol mall, shouting slogans, those who attended held a silent protest along the street in front of the Capitol.
"We wanted the people to know this wasn't a march or a rally, where we were loud and noisy and proclaimed our voices strong," said Diane Zainofsky, the director of the Abused Adult Resource Center in Bismarck. "We wanted to give the impression that we want more peace in this community than anythng else."
The protestors held signs. And there was a large ribbon made up of white and purple flags in the Capitol mall.
"The white flags signify the women that have contacted us in the past year," said Zainofsky. "The purple ones -- with the white ones together -- are a little over 4,000. That's the number of victims throughout the state."
Zainofsky says in 2014, 1186 new victims of domestic violence contacted the AARC.