BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Thousands of people protested in Brussels on Sunday against violence targetting women, placing pairs of women’s shoes painted red outside a court to symbolize victims of femicide.
Singing and chanting, protesters carried banners reading “She leaves him, he kills her”, “A dress is not a ‘Yes'” and “My body, my choice, my consent”, a day after thousands also marched in France against domestic violence.
Police said about 10,000 people attended the protest, which took place on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. More events are planned for Monday.
“The red shoes represent women killed by a man,” said Julie Wauters of the Mirabal group, which organized the annual demonstration. “There have been about a hundred of them in the last three years.”
The group said there were no official statistics in Belgium on femicide. One banner on display on Sunday read: “Am I next?”
(Reporting by Hortense de Roffignac; Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by David Clarke)
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