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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Thousands march for Women's Day in Latin America

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Thousands march for Women's Day in Latin America
Thousands march for Women's Day in Latin America

Female protesters took to the streets across Latin America on International Women's Day (March 8), taking a stand against gender-based violence and demanding equal rights.

Gloria Tso reports.

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DIGITAL: NONE.~** Clad in black and armed with hammers and spray paint, female protesters took to the streets of Mexico's capital for International Women's Day (March 8), part of a series of angry rallies across Latin America that saw huge turnout.

In Mexico City, activists demanded more action be taken against the gender-based violence which has plagued the country.

Others tore down barracades, set fires, smashed cars -- and a molotov cocktail was thrown against the doors of the National Palace.

(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED MARCHER, SAYING: "Mexico needs this.

We are going through a time when we need to go through a catharsis as a society and it is women who are driving this." According to authorities, at least ten women are murdered every day in Mexico.

Protestors hope the huge turnout at Sunday's (March 8) march will push authorities to act.

And on Monday, millions of women across the country will not go back to work or school.

Called "a day without us," the strike is meant to highlight Mexico's surge in killings and disappearances of women.

Activists in Mexico aren't alone in calling for justice.

Police said around 150,000 protesters gathered in the Chilean capital of Santiago.

Many carried signs calling for access to abortion and an end to violence against women.

Organizers said the number of protesters was much higher than the official count.

Femicides, or homicide where history of discrimination against women can be proven, are commonplace in Central and South America.

In Brazil, where more people are murdered every year than in any other country, one newspaper reported there were more than 1300 femicides last year.

On Sunday in the streets of major city Sao Paulo, the voices of thousands of women chanting "The Rapist Is You" could be heard far and wide.

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