Thousands of women protest in the capital of Chile against male violence

Thousands of people on Thursday marched against male violence in downtown Santiago as part of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which will be commemorated on Nov. 25.

The demonstration, which started near the Presidential Palace, continued along one side of the main avenue Alameda and passed in front of the governments headquarters to the Plaza Los Heroes.

Mostly women, young people and girls, the demonstrators called for an end to aggression in all spheres of society.

The demonstrators carried banners that read slogans such as “Against Fascist Violence, Feminist Organization”, “No to Femicide” and “All women against all violence”, among many others.

According to the Chilean Network Against Violence, so far in 2018, 46 men murdered 47 women and girls motivated by sexist hatred.

In 2017 there were 65 femicides and one femicide suicide.

Since 2010, at least 494 women have been murdered just because they are women.

The network pointed out that during the first semester of 2018 there were 22,845 complaints of domestic violence, of which 80 percent were made by women.

During the same period, there were 683 complaints of rape and only 87 arrests, which shows the problem of impunity in Chile when it comes to violence against women.

“However, the State does not address violence against women with the seriousness which it deserves,” states a report from that organization.