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The unprecedented youth-led protest that began on social media was quickly dispersed by police and the Special Reserve Force using tear gas, rubber bullets and batons.
Protesters gesticulate during the second day of the #ShutItDown protests, where hundreds of young Namibians protested against gender-based violence by closing the Windhoek central business district, in Windhoek, Namibia, on October 9, 2020. Image: AFP
WINDHOEK – Namibian police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and arrested dozens of protesters in the capital Windhoek on Saturday during the third day of national demonstrations against gender-based violence.
The nearly 400 protesters, mostly young Namibian women, were marching towards one of the capital’s main shopping malls to shut it down, in order to send a message that corporate Namibia also has a duty to fight violence against women. gender.
The unprecedented youth-led protest that began on social media was quickly dispersed by police and the Special Reserve Force using tear gas, rubber bullets and batons.
“This is a protest against violence against women and here we have women beaten while they are being arrested,” protester Maria Amupolo told AFP holding a banner that read “We are tired” in Afrikaans.
“I saw it with my own eyes, they beat that girl and slapped her while they threw her into the truck.”
The mineral-rich southern African country, plagued by high unemployment and poverty, has been grappling with the scourge of violence against women for years.
Windhoek receives more than 200 cases reported under the Domestic Violence Act each month.
Fewer cases were recorded per month during the Covid-19 shutdown with 175 reported monthly, according to the Namibian police.
Over the three days since protests broke out across the country in the coastal city of Swakopmund and Otjiwarongo, north of Windhoek, protesters have chanted slogans such as “no justice, no peace.”
They ask President Hage Geingob to declare a state of emergency for violence against women and femicide.
They also want armed response units and special training for the police in handling cases of gender violence.
“A state of emergency was declared for Covid-19. Is it because it also affects men, and because femicide only affects women, cannot a state of emergency be declared?” one of the organizers of the march, said Bertha Thobias.
Freelance IT technician Paul Joseph, 28, said that women were raped and murdered every day, so “we should demonstrate every day.”
On Friday, the group had marched to government offices, demanding the resignation of Gender Equality and Child Welfare Minister Doreen Sioka for her religious stance in handling GBV issues.
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