Women in wedding dresses marched through the Bronx and Manhattan Monday to raise awareness of domestic violence.
Demonstrators walked six miles, many wearing bridal gowns.
Men who participated wore black.
First Lady Chirlane McCray kicked off the event.
She says domestic violence has a devastating effect on families and communities.
"The numbers are actually rising even though crime overall is going down," McCray said. "Domestic crime numbers are rising. Women everyone to know, and men too, that violence is not acceptable. There are places to go they can call 311 and ask for our domestic partner hotline."
"We know statistically that everybody knows that this it's happening and yet nobody wants to step in because they say well that's a private issue," said Ceclia Gaston, Executive Director of the Violence Intervention Program. "It is not."
Now in its 16th year, the march was created in honor of Gladys Ricard, a woman killed on her wedding day by her ex-boyfriend.