Women and children part of thousands who took to streets around the world, but some protests turned violent

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

Female asylum seekers have staged a demonstration at the Turkish border demanding to be let into the EU as part of protests around the world on International Women’s Day.

All over the globe, thousands of women took to the streets, including South Americans campaigning for access to abortions and topless demonstrations in London and Paris.

Women and children carried placards with the words “Help us” and “Don’t Kill Us — We Are Human” at the Pazarkule border crossing between Turkey and Greece on Sunday, where thousands of migrants have gathered since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided to open the Turkish side of the border.

Play Video 2:08 'We are power': the world marks International Women's Day - video report

In France a clutch of virus deaths on Saturday took the death toll to 16, but Paris hosted several rallies — one of which was marred by violence that organisers blamed on police.

Other protests around the world were also met with force. In Istanbul, Turkey, police fired teargas on a crowd and pushed protesters away after local officials closed down streets leading to the city’s main square.

A demonstration in Kyrgyzstan also turned violent as police detained dozens of protesters – mainly women – after masked men attacked them and tore up their placards in the capital Bishkek. A police spokesman said they were detained for their own safety and because police had not been warned about the rally.

In Santiago, Chile, thousands gathered in the capital, Santiago, demanding access to abortion and an end to violence against women. Police used water hoses and teargas in attempts to disperse crowds. Many women came prepared, wearing gas masks and even sling shots to fight back.

In Mexico City, a huge rally marched to the public square in front of the national palace, where they painted the first names of victims of femicide since 2016, from a list that included over 3,000. Femicides have more than doubled in the country over the past five years.

In Milan in northern Italy, a small group of women — some wearing pink face masks — came out to show their support for the celebration, despite the region being under lockdown amid the rapid spread of coronavirus.

The Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, released a video message in which he expressed regret at the need to avoid large-scale gatherings. He said he was giving “a grateful thought to the women — and there are many — who are working in hospitals ... in the red [quarantine] zones to fight the spread of the virus that worries us today”.

International Women's Day 2020 around the world - in pictures Read more

In the Philippines, a group of anti-imperialists, dissidents and feminists burnt an effigy of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been criticised for misogyny.

In London, 31 women from the Extinction Rebellion group formed a topless chain across Waterloo Bridge, saying their bare breasts symbolised “the vulnerability of women around the world in the face of climate breakdown”.

Many had written slogans across their naked chests including “Climate Rape”, “Climate Murder” and “Climate Abuse”.

In London and other cities the women’s strike took place, encouraging women to withdraw all work — whether paid or unpaid domestic work. “The women’s strike rejects the decades of economic inequality, criminalisation and policing, racial and sexual violence, and endless global war and terrorism,” the group said in a statement.

In Paris, topless Femen activists wearing protective glasses and masks gathered at Place de la Concorde to denounce “the patriarchal pandemic”, despite the best efforts of police to control them.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Femen activists demonstrate at place de la Concorde in Paris. Photograph: Martin Bureau/AFP via Getty Images

“Who’s doing the washing up?” they chanted. “We are making a revolution.”

But rights groups and politicians denounced what they said was police violence at a women’s march in Paris the night before, after scuffles broke out and police arrested nine people.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, currently seeking re-election, said she was shocked at the “unacceptable and incomprehensible” violence and expressed her solidarity with the demonstrators.

Some women tweeted pictures of marchers left battered and bruised, prompting Julien Bayou, the party secretary of Europe Ecology-The Greens, to condemn what he termed “absolutely unjustifiable police violence”.