Women's Day: Marches held calling for equality

Police prevent women from marching in central Istanbul on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
Police prevent women from marching in central Istanbul on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
Tear gas, stones and water canons have been used as people took to the streets to mark International Women's Day.

Turkish police used tear gas to disperse a few dozen women who were still in central Istanbul after trying to march on Sunday evening.

Reuters reporters saw the crowd, which was originally few hundred women, at the edge of Taksim Square holding banners and waving flags. The police formed a human blockade to stop them from entering Istiklal Street, the district's main pedestrian avenue.

A large part of the crowd dispersed as they were not allowed to march on Istiklal Street.

Istanbul's governor Ali Yerlikaya decided to close down Taksim metro station and parts of nearby Sishane station and said all roads leading to main square would be blocked.

"All roads leading to Taksim Square and Istiklal Street will be closed as these places are not classified as designated areas for assembly and demonstrations according to law," the governor's office said in a statement.

The government did allow some activities by non-governmental organisations to celebrate International Women's Day around the city, the statement said. But it said the gathering in Istiklal Street was not granted a permit.

Last year, on International Women's Day, police had fired tear gas to break up a crowd of women who had gathered for a march.

Women clash with security forces as they take part in a rally during Women's Day celebrations in...
Women clash with security forces as they take part in a rally during Women's Day celebrations in Valparaiso, Chile. Photo: Reuters
In Pakistan, Islamists pelted campaigners with stones, shoes and sticks as they marched through the capital on Sunday.

Women and men joined the event in Islamabad, the largest such rally in the country, for what is known in Pakistan as the Aurat March, using the Urdu word for women.

Dozens of men and women from the Red Mosque brigade, consisting of several local militant groups, staged a rival rally just across from the women's march venue, District Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat said.

Police official Mazhar Niazi said the officers blocked the Islamists as they tried to break through a cordon to attack the marchers.

A Reuters witness and Niazi said the Islamists threw stones, bricks, sticks and shoes at the marchers. Niazi said no one was injured.

He said a criminal case would be registered against the Islamists for violating the law and attempting to attack the women march.

There has been an uproar in conservative circles over slogans used at the past two such events, including "My body, my choice", "My body is not your battleground" and "Stop being menstrual phobic".

Following last year's event, organisers said they faced a backlash including murder and rape threats.

Ahead of this year's event, organisers say posters and murals were vandalised, including one by the Islamists from the Red Mosque.

Marches in other parts of the country were held peacefully amid tight security.

A court in the eastern city of Lahore allowed the march there to take place on condition that organisers and participants adhered to "decency and moral values".

Riot police uses a water cannon during a march in Santiago, Chile. Photo: Reuters
Riot police uses a water cannon during a march in Santiago, Chile. Photo: Reuters
From Buenos Aires to Mexico City, women across Latin America's biggest cities took to the streets for International Women's Day, spurred by a growing outcry over inequality, femicide and strict abortion controls.

The Latin American marches were set against a backdrop of broader social unrest in the region.

Police said 125,000 protesters gathered in Chile's capital city, Santiago, as the marches kicked off. Minor incidents of violence were reported as demonstrators confronted police near federal government offices. A water canon was used. Other cities saw protests as well.

Police said 1700 officers were on hand for crowd control nationwide. Many carried signs calling for access to abortion and an end to violence against women.

"I'm so happy about what's happening today," said one Chilean protester who asked to be identified as Patricia V. "Chile needs women to increase their power in public life, for the good of all women and men. We need more equality not only socially, but economically and politically."

A large crowd of demonstrators turned out in Madrid. Photo: Reuters
A large crowd of demonstrators turned out in Madrid. Photo: Reuters
In Spain, thousands of women across the country marched against gender inequality, despite concerns the gatherings could help the spread of coronavirus.

Bearing flags and banners denouncing gender violence, a crowd of purple-clad women paraded down one of Madrid's main avenues towards the city centre, chanting over booming drums.

One protester held a sign that read: "Machismo kills more than coronavirus."

"We must be strong and fight for the rights of all of us, to be equal, to be paid as much as men," One of the drummers, Marina Martin, told Reuters.

Spain's women's rights movement has emerged as a formidable political force since five men were jailed in 2016 for sexual abuse after gang-raping a young woman at the Pamplona bull-running festival.

Responding to discontent with Spain's sexual violence laws, the leftwing government has approved a bill to qualify all non-consensual sex as rape. Previously a perpetrator had to have used physical violence or intimidation for an assault to be classified as rape.

But the issue remains divisive, with far-right Vox - Spain's third-largest party - resisting the new legislation, which it says discriminates against men.