Girls Against: The 5 teenagers fighting back against men groping them at gigs

The young women - aged 15 to 17 - are gaining the support of high-profile bands

Badges printed by the group to distribute at concerts (Instagram/Girls Against)

A group of young music fans have launched a campaign to fight back against groping at gigs.

The five teenagers, who are all aged 15 to 17 - Hannah, Ava, Anna, Anni and Bea - launched Girls Against two months ago to raise awareness about sexual harassment, assault and groping at concerts.

The idea came about when 17-year-old Hannah was assaulted while watching British band Peace in October.

She tweeted about her experience and the band’s lead singer, Harry Koisser, reposted it saying that if anyone had this happen at one of their gigs they should tell the band or security immediately.

He also said anyone who thinks this sort of behaviour is "OK" was not welcome at a Peace gig.

This led to the girls starting Girls Against two months ago.

Since then they have already gathered more than 6,000 Twitter followers and the support of several high profile bands including Peace, Slaves and Wolf Alice.

Despite the group's name, the girls say they are standing up against all groping at gigs - against men, trans and non-binary people as well.

Describing the assault, Hannah told BBC Newsbeat: "The crowd kept shifting because people were jumping about and this group of guys ended up behind me.

"One of them put their hand on my waist and every time I tried to push him away he would push his full body weight into the barrier. I am not a very big person so I couldn't do anything."

"He kept trying to put his hand into my tights because my skirt had ridden up.

"Every time I tried to brush his hands away he just forced me into a situation where I couldn't move."

She said the attack lasted for five minutes before the crowd moved and he left.

The girls told NME they want to get more bands involved and are now making badges and leaflets to hand out at concerts.

Anna said: "Bands cannot physically help someone out if they are being groped at a gig, that's security's job.

"[But] they can take the initiative to talk about groping and let perpetrators know it will not go unnoticed, which is what many bands have done so far and we are so grateful for."