Italians protest violence against women across country

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 25 - Thousands of people took part inprotests across Italy on Saturday for the International Day forthe Elimination of Violence against Women, amid widespreadpublic anger and dismay over the murder of 22-year-old GiuliaCecchettin by her ex boyfriend Filippo Turetta on November 11,the latest of a long string of femicides and other acts ofgender-based violence in the country.
   Marches took place all over the country to demand an end to theviolence and abuse, with the demos in Milan, Rome, Messina andNaples attracting especially big crowds.
   "Dramatic news stories have shaken the country's conscience,"said President Mattarella in his message for the day.
   "A human society that aspires to be civilized cannot accept,cannot endure, this string of attacks on women and murders.
   "The incurable grief and pain of the wounded families andcommunities is the heartbreak of all of us.
   "When we are faced with a murdered woman, the broken life of ayoung person, a person humiliated verbally or in everydaygestures in the family, in the workplace, at school, we (should)feel that behind this violence lies the failure of a society,which fails to promote real equal relations between women andmen".
   European Parliament President Roberta Metsola referred toCecchettin's case and that of other femicide victims in a videomessage on Saturday. "Giulia, Ashling, Bernice, Paulina and tens of thousands otherwomen in Europe and beyond," Metsola"Femicide victims. Daughters, sisters, mothers.
   "We can and must act to protect women. With determination,training, awareness campaigns, and ambitious laws.
   "There are no excuses, it is already too late, we must defendwomen".
   On Friday Premier Giorgia Meloni renewed her pledge to continueto fight violence against women, describing it as an"intolerable phenomenon that must be fought at 360 degrees.
   "I am proud of the law that was voted by all the politicalforces (in parliament)," continued Meloni, referring to the newanti-violence and anti-stalking norms approved definitively bythe Senate on Wednesday.
   "There are areas where sharing can make a difference," sheadded.
   The government also had the number of the 1522 helplineprojected onto the facade of the premier's office at PalazzoChigi in Rome.
   Pope Francis called for action to prevent gender-based violencetoo.
   "Violence against women is a poisonous weed that plagues oursociety and must be pulled up from its roots," the pontiff saidin a post on X.
   "These roots grow in the soil of prejudice and of injustice;they must be countered with educational action that places theperson, with his or her dignity, at the centre". (ANSA).