Gurgaon, Apr 16 (IANS): Gurgaon Girlcott - a movement to urge women in this millenium city on Delhi's outskirts to keep away from splurging at restaurants, malls and salons to protest against rising crimes against the female sex, ended Sunday with some mall managers claiming that the protest had little impact while the campaigners maintained that it was a success.

Richa Dube, one of the campaigners, told IANS that many people didn't open their purses as a mark of support for the Gurgaon Girlcott.

According to her estimates, last weekend people spent about Rs.40,000 on shopping but this weekend there were some who didn't even buy a litre of milk.

She said they came across people like Dhruv Arora, a resident of Gurgaon, who wanted to pick up important equipment but put off his plan to next week in support the women's movement.

Dhruv Swamini, a basketball professional, didn't purchase a stop watch for her practice session, claimed Dube.

Mall managers said they too were sympathetic towards women's safety but claimed the campaign had negligible impact.

Sandeep Dutta, manager of Ambiance Mall here, told IANS: "We support the voice of women and crime against them must be checked at any cost. But Gurgaon Girlcott had no impact at all. On Saturday, more than one lakh footfalls were recorded at the mall, as normal. On Sunday, the figure went up further."

MGF Metropolitan Mall Manager Denise Singh too claimed that the girlcott did not have any impact. Visitors came in as usual and sales were not affected. She supported the protesters' cause and said that atrocities against women were not tolerable.

Dube said their campaign was supported by other groups like Jagori, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Institute of Urban Designers (India) and various other groups like the Asmita Theatre Group and 'Let's Walk Gurgaon'.

A meeting of all the groups would be called next week to review the situation and strengthen the movement, she said.

She said 60 volunteers had registered themselves for the campaign.

Dube said harming the business of private firms was not their target, but they wanted to show that women can do much more than what people thought.

The movement, born as an idea on the popular social networking platform Facebook, targets a favourite weekend activity - shopping and splurging by women. The Girlcott had urged women to hold their purse strings tight during April 13-15, and stay away from shopping in malls, stores, salons, restaurants, or taking cabs - basically anywhere that requires them to spend money in Gurgaon.

The idea was planted after a 25-year-old woman was abducted and gangraped in the city last month when she was returning from work at night. Following this, the Gurgaon administration remarked that women should not work after 8 p.m. - a statement they later retracted due to strong criticism.