Activists on Wednesday smeared Rome’s Spanish Steps with red paint to protest Italy’s high rate of femicides.
The protest was organized by the group of feminist activists “Let’s Burn It All Down”, who distributed posters with the names of recent femicide victims in the Piazza di Spagna, a popular tourist destination. Femicide refers to the killing of a woman specifically because of her gender.
One activist shouted: “This is their blood: a massacre that society will not see, that will always remain hidden and accepted, as if it were normal to die at the hand of a husband, a partner or a son,” the group reported . .
One of the cases highlighted was that of Giulia Cecchettin, a student who was murdered by her former partner after divorcing him. Her body was punctured with dozens of stab wounds. The murder caused a wave of outrage.
According to the Ministry of Interior, more than 40 women have been killed this year in femicide attacks, with the perpetrator usually being a partner or ex-partner.
Police intervened after the protest and recorded the activists’ details. The paint turned out to be easy to remove by the municipal cleaning service.
