The Freeman

Argentines protest teen girl's rape-slay

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BUENOS AIRES — Dressed in black, thousands of Argentines took to the streets yesterday to protest the brutal rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl, the latest case of violence against women to shock the country.

The protesters — mostly women, but also some men — marched in memory of Lucia Perez, a high school student who died on October 8 after drug dealers allegedly raped her and impaled her on a spike.

"If you touch one of us, we all react," said signs carried by many of the protesters, who staged an hourlong strike starting at 1:00 p.m. (1400 GMT).

It was the latest in more than a year of mass marches to protest violence against women in Argentina, where according to government figures domestic violence kills one woman every 36 hours.

Perez's killing was just the latest horrific episode.

Last year in June, protests broke out nationwide over a trio of gruesome killings: a kindergart­en teacher whose estranged husband slit her throat in front of her class; a 14-year-old girl whose boyfriend allegedly beat her to death because she got pregnant; and a woman whose ex-boyfriend stabbed her to death in broad daylight at a Buenos Aires cafe.

"The case of Lucia Perez acted as a trigger to demand justice for all women who suffer sexist violence," said one protester in downtown Buenos Aires, Gabriela Spinelli.

 ?? AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE ?? Women stop work and other activities for an hour in Buenos Aires to join a “women's strike” organized after the brutal killing of a 16-year-old girl.
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE Women stop work and other activities for an hour in Buenos Aires to join a “women's strike” organized after the brutal killing of a 16-year-old girl.

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