Hundreds of people took to the streets of Lisbon to protest violence against women

This Friday, hundreds of people paraded in Lisbon, between Praça do Intendente and Rossio, to protest against the elimination of violence against women.

With a banner in front of them that read “against sexist violence,” many hundreds of people chanted slogans such as “happen to one, contact all”, “none less, we need one alive” or “my struggle and every day we are women, not goods.”

The March to End Violence Against Women, commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in Lisbon, joins other similar events taking place this Friday in cities such as Porto, Braga, Coimbra, Viseu, Viana do Castelo and Vila. Real.

In Lisbon, at the end of the march, the names of 22 women killed this year in connection with domestic violence were read out, with a number highlighted as impossible to repeat.

The struggles of other women in other regions of the world were also remembered, according to a manifesto read in Rossio in the center of Lisbon.

Daniel Cotrim, responsible for domestic and gender-based violence at the Portuguese Victim Support Association, stressed the importance of celebrating this date because citizens and organizations should have “a word to say about these phenomena”, and because their fight and prevention depends on everyone.

It is necessary, said Daniel Cotrim, to do more, namely from a legislative point of view, where it is necessary to “finish some things in the law”.

“And justice, entangled in the prejudices, myths, beliefs and stereotypes of male society, must get rid of them,” he added.

Mariana Mortagua, an MP from the Left Bloc, also mentioned the number of women victims of domestic violence, which is even more “frightening” considering that many of them have already filed complaints, have already been victims of threats and attempted murders.

“Violence against women stems from machismo, a patriarchal society, prejudices against women in society,” the MP said, referring to the existence of a problem of “public policy” and “a judiciary structure that is not yet ready to deal with this problem with the ability that it must have.”

The deputy cited as an example the specialized sections on combating domestic violence, which “are working with half of the staff that they should have and which have not yet been extended to the entire territory” because “the government has not invested in them.” And he recalled two amendments to the State budget on this subject, which were submitted by the Block and which failed.

Another MP also present at the march, Inés Souza Real, from PAN, in addition to recalling the “shadow figures” and the “long road”, also spoke about the need to train judges, promote a fairer society from the point of view of labor equality and what he called legitimacy of the international community regarding crimes related to women, which gives the impression that women can be “left behind”.

“We need more such marches and effective measures. And we need a society that respects and empowers women and treats them equally,” she said.

With the participation of more than two dozen organizations, the march in Lisbon, which also had music and many slogans, ended with a speech by an Iranian activist in honor of women’s struggle in Iran after the manifesto “Mulheres, Vida, Liberdade” was read, supported by 34 feminist organizations and more than a hundred people individually.

Association UMAR – Union of Alternative and Response Women was responsible for reading the names of 22 victims.

Ana Leonor Marciano, a UMAR lawyer, stressed to Luce that a change in mentality was needed, adding after that about the necessary changes: “I feel that often the time for justice is not the time for people. their problems and many times we still don’t have that speed of gears. We are better, but this is still not entirely desirable.”