Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Italy and around the world to condemn violence against women.

Italy has been shaken by the murder of a 22-year-old university student allegedly by her former boyfriend and around 50,000 people, according to the AGI news agency, demonstrated in Rome, where the Colosseum was lit up in red.

Giulia Cecchettin went missing for a week as she was due to receive her degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Padua. Her body was eventually found in a gully about 120 kilometers north of Venice, and her former boyfriend, 22-year-old Filippo Turetta, was arrested in Germany. 

With Saturday being the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women there was extra focus in Italy on the problem, while there were also protest marches across Europe and the Americas.

"This year... takes on particularly important connotations for us... for those in this country who care about the rights, claims and emancipation of all women, following yet another femicide, the killing of Giulia Cecchettin," said Luisa Loduce, a 22-year-old librarian in Italy.

In the year to November 12, there have been 102 murder cases with female victims in Italy, 82 of them by family members or current or former partners, according to the interior ministry.

Italy’s RAI state TV reported that in the days since Cecchettin’s body was found, calls to a national hotline for women fearing for their safety at the hands of men have jumped from some 200 to 400 a day — including from parents of young women.

"Rome has been invaded … we are 500,000," said activists from Non Una Di Meno (Not One Less), the anti-violence feminist association that organized the rally in the capital. Many of the demonstrations that took place across Italy remembered Cecchettin and her striking story.

"Male violence is something that personally touched me and all of us, at every age," said Aurora Arleo, a 24-year-old student, who went to the demonstration from Ladispoli, a town close to Rome. "We have united also in the name of Giulia, because her story struck us, and I hope it will change something."

Monica Gilardi, 46, noted that her generation was probably "the one that suffered in silence more than others," despite having experienced years of women's battles and emancipation. "Now that I’ve reached a different awareness, I hope to be able to share it with my sisters," she said.

Thousands of men of all ages also responded to the call for joining Saturday's initiatives against gender violence. "I think it was important to be here today," said Leonardo Sanna, 19, who took part in the Rome demonstration with female friends. "It’s not my first time, but I believe that Giulia's death changed in part the perception of this problem among youths. And I hope this is not going to be short-lived."

In France, several thousand people – many wearing purple, seen as the color of women and gender equality – wove through the chilly streets of Paris and other cities, carrying signs reading: "One rape every six minutes in France" and "Protect your girls, educate your boys."

"We don't want to count the dead any more," Maelle Lenoir, an official from the All of Us activist group, told reporters, urging the government to devote more money to eradicating violence against women.

France has recorded 121 women killed so far this year in femicides, the killing of a woman due to her gender, compared with 118 in 2022, according to government data.

Leonore Maunoury, 22, said that the justice system needed to be changed to deal effectively with the phenomenon, as she marched in the eastern city of Strasbourg.

"Sexual violence is difficult to prove. Many cases are dismissed. The justice system is ill-adapted" to deal with the issue, she said.

In Türkiye, some 500 women gathered in the Sisli district in Istanbul, as riot police stood by, unfurling banners reading "We will not remain silent" and "Women are united and fighting against male-state violence." Protesters also took to the streets in Ankara.

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"The scourge of gender-based violence continues to inflict pain and injustice on too many," said U.S. President Joe Biden. "An estimated one in three women globally will experience physical violence, rape, or stalking at some point in their lifetimes. It's an outrage.

"Particularly in areas of conflict, countless women and girls suffer at the hands of perpetrators who commit gender-based violence and use rape as a weapon of war."

In Guatemala, protesters kicked off commemorations on Friday evening, placing candles to write out 438 – the number of women killed so far this year.

In the Chilean capital of Santiago, some 1,000 protesters marched through the streets Friday night, chanting "Not one step backward" and demanding action by the government to protect women.

A women's advocacy group estimates that 40 femicides have occurred in the country this year. Along Rio de Janeiro's famed Copacabana Beach, protesters lined up 722 pairs of women's shoes, from high heels to sneakers, each pair before a woman's name to represent the femicides recorded in 2022 – the highest number since 2019, according to the non-governmental Brazilian Forum on Public Safety. 

And in Argentina, demonstrators, including those concerned by the election of incoming president Javier Milei, in Buenos Aires combined a protest on violence against women with a show of support for the Palestinian people. Milei has suggesting eliminating the Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity – in charge of preventing gender violence – and has taken hardline stances on issues including abortion and equal pay.

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