Madrid, Mar 8 (efe_epa).- Hundreds of thousands of people across Europe's main cities rallied on Wednesday to celebrate International Women's Day, a worldwide celebration meant to raise civil awareness of women's rights and fight against gender-based discrimination, cultural sexism, gender violence and sexual abuse.

Cities such as Madrid (Spain), Brussels (Belgium), Florence (Italy), Kiev (Ukraine), Minsk (Belarus), Tbilisi (Georgia), Tirana (Albania) and Warsaw (Poland) were flooded with demonstrators marching in support of women's rights and against gender inequality, as seen in images supplied by epa photographers across the continent.

This year's theme, suggested by the United Nations, was "Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030."

In Spain's capital, female members of parliament held a half-hour strike at noon outside the lower house, while throngs of protesters gathered at the central Puerta del Sol square in solidarity with hunger strikers demanding policy measures to stop violence against women.

In Brussels, Queen Mathilde and King Philippe of Belgium met with women's rights activists at the Royal Palace while Polish women and supporters marched near the European Commission's headquarters.

Florence, in northern Italy, saw a rally in its iconic Santissima Annunziata square, with banners calling for a global strike.

The Ukrainian capital was the scene of a large feminist march across the downtown area, while police arrested male counter-protesters who attempted to disrupt the event and attack the pro-women's rights activists.

Meanwhile, about 2,000 people in Minsk participated in the so-called "Beauty Run," a race with the slogan "Women against Violence."

In Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, activists staged a protest rally in front of the Parliament building while displaying banners supporting gender equality, LGBTQ rights and opposing transphobia.

On the other hand, the Albanian capital Tirana was inundated with flowers as protesters demonstrated in front of a government building holding placards demanding respect for women and a poster with the slogan "I am Super-Woman."

In Warsaw, members of different women's rights groups organized the National Women's Strike, a non-partisan and informal initiative that held a flower-filled rally in front of the Sejm (parliamentary) building.

Furthermore, the organizers set up a mural, called the "Wall of Fury," opposing the policies of the ultra-conservative ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party in front of its Warsaw headquarters.

The origin of the holiday lies in the international labor movement and early-20th-century socialist parties.

The earliest recorded observance of a Women's Day took place in New York City on Feb. 28, 1909, in remembrance of a previous strike by the International Ladies Garment Worker's Union. The event was organized by the Socialist Party of America.

The March 8 date only became widespread after women marched in many European countries in 1914, when it coincided with a Sunday.

A historic strike of women textile workers in Petrograd (currently Saint Petersburg) that launched the February Revolution was held on Feb. 23 (according to the Julian calendar in use in tsarist Russia, a date equivalent to March 8 in the Gregorian system used in Western countries).

Later that year, Bolshevik leaders Vladimir Lenin and Alexandra Kollontai declared March 8 a holiday in Soviet Russia to commemorate the strike.

Communist governments and movements worldwide soon adopted the date, which became known as the International Working Women's Day.

In 1975 _ designated as International Women's Year _ the UN began to celebrate International Women's Day, broadening its scope from the communist bloc to include all member states.