Malta protesters call for an end to violence against women

Malta: On Friday night, protesters participated in a “Reclaim the Night” march along the St. Julian’s/Sliema promenade to call for an end to violence against women.

Just hours after the late Bernice Cassar’s burial, which was held in the “ebbu” parish church, about a hundred people marched from the LOVE monument in St. Julian’s to “nien l-Indipendenza” in Sliema, Malta.

There were a lot of people in attendance at the service to pay their condolences to the deceased mother-of-two.

Bernice Cassar was killed on her way to work in Paola on Tuesday. Her estranged husband was charged with her murder after she was shot twice.

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She is the third woman to be murdered this year.

The protesters gathered in the same garden where Polish student Paulina Dembska was raped and killed in January.

“Women don’t owe you anything” and “Stop blaming girls and women,” read the posters that the protesters carried. Others displayed images of Paulina and Bernice.

Along with more than 20 NGOs, Moviment Graffiti led the Reclaim the Night march. It was the first Reclaim the Night march to take place in Malta.

Speaking on behalf of Moviment Graffiti, Arianna Zunino said 2022 is an “upsetting year” with three women murdered. Protestors will not remain silent, she stressed.

“We will not forget Paulina, Rita Ellul (who was strangled in Gozo), Bernice, and all the women who have been killed because they were women, and we will not stop fighting for justice,” Zunino told the crowd.

“We will not remain silent, we will not forget the women who were murdered because they were women.”

Other instances of sexual harassment that have been published in recent weeks were addressed by Zunino, including the one involving the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. A female member of the orchestra who was sexually harassed by a male official of the MPO, she resigned as a result of the “excessive stress” brought on by the harassment.

“This woman tried to seek help from her CEO, and she was told that she was exaggerating and that her perspective wasn’t objective,” she said.

She also mentioned Emma Attard, a woman who was allegedly raped in her home earlier this year by a Mount Carmel caregiver.

We want justice for all the other girls and women who have reported experiences of harassment and abuse because what happened to her is abhorrent.

The demonstration included musicians and performers as well as the reading of 26 women’s personal accounts of violence, abuse, and misogyny.

SOURCE: The story is retrieved from Times Malta.