A US group that campaigns against rape culture, SlutWalk Chicago, has announced in an apparent u-turn that it would allow people bearing Jewish or Zionist symbols to join its march in the city on August 12.

The group had previously signalled on Twitter that it would follow the lead of the gay rights collective Chicago Dyke March, which banned Jews from its June 23 demonstration reasoning that any “expression of Zionism” made other protesters feel “unsafe”.

But a SlutWalk Chicago organiser told Haaretz on Sunday that the group would welcome all participants who wish to protest against sexual violence. 

The organizer, named as “Red”, also said the SlutWalk collective needed to make amends with the Jewish community.

He said: “I do think that at SlutWalk Chicago we have some apologising to do around the confusion with some of our tweets.”

“We are not banning any symbols or any kind of ethnic or heritage flags,” Red said.

“Those are welcome, everyone is welcome to express themselves as they see fit at SlutWalk. And we encourage people to bring signs and symbols that represent fighting sexism, patriarchy, rape culture, and that takes a lot of different forms for different people, and we support them in how they decide to show up for SlutWalk.”