Several hundred feminist activists on Saturday warmed up with chants next to a monument to murdered Mexican women before filling a street in the capital and dousing female police officers with red paint.
It was the latest in a series of rowdy all-female protests that have flooded central avenues since August last year, when thousands of women took to the streets of Mexico City in anger over the alleged rape of a teenager by city police and rampant violence against women.
Now, the feminists themselves feel like targets after two of their fellow activists were murdered this month in different parts of the country.
Photo: EFE
“Once again the women are taking to the streets to shout to society that they are killing us,” said Nelly Ornelas, 24, who belongs to a collective called Love Is Not Violence, which seeks to stamp out domestic violence.
On average, 10 women are murdered every day in Mexico, making it one of the most dangerous countries in the world for women. Only one of every 10 reported crimes in Mexico results in jail time.
Ornelas thinks the shooting death last week of women’s rights activist Isabel Cabanillas in Ciudad Juarez was meant as a message to the women who are fighting for greater safety.
“Since the authorities are indifferent, lazy, the men think that they can keep killing women. So the feminists, we are going to keep going out until they learn to respect us,” Ornelas said.
Nearby, mothers and sisters of murdered women took turns at a microphone to describe how their girls were murdered, and how, years later, the perpetrators remain free.
Many family members say they have received death threats for their pursuit of justice.
Tears streamed down the face of teenager Tessa Lagunas as she listened to the tales.
“Sometimes I feel like staying home and not going anywhere,” she said, as her mother consoled her.
Female protesters shocked Mexico in August by trashing a bus station, police precinct and spray-painting messages like “rape state” onto the base of the Angel of Independence, a major monument in the capital topped by a female angel.
Those who complained about the graffiti care more about statues than real women, the protesters said.
Defacing monuments along the city’s stately Reforma Avenue has since become a priority for some, who wear masks to conceal their identities.
Masked protesters on Saturday poured red paint onto a statue of a man riding a pegasus, threw a flaming projectile at a statue of Christopher Columbus and tied a green bandanna — a symbol of abortion rights — around the ankle of a statue of French chemist Louis Pasteur.
Lines of female police in riot helmets stood shoulder to shoulder in an effort to protect the monuments.
The protesters shifted directions at several points, resulting in an elaborate game of cat and mouse that blocked traffic on key arteries for several hours.
The protesters shouted “traitor” at the female officers, who pursed their lips and resisted fighting back — even when one officer’s uniform briefly caught fire from a Molotov cocktail.
“Really, we are with them,” a veteran female police officer whose face was splattered with red paint said.
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
RELAXED: After talks on Ukraine and trade, the French president met with students while his wife visited pandas, after the pair parted ways with their Chinese counterparts French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his fourth state visit to China yesterday in Chengdu, striking a more relaxed note after tough discussions on Ukraine and trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a day earlier. Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old Dujiangyan Dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan Province. Macron was told through an interpreter about the ancient irrigation system, which dates back to the third century
RSS