Budapest: Women Protest against Domestic Violence

25 November is an International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. On the next say, November 26, a number of feminist and women rights NGOs organized a demonstration to commemorate the victims of domestic violence in Hungary.
The demo started at 3 p.m. in Anker köz after the speeches and presentation of the current situation in Hungary with domestic violence. It was said that since the beginning of 2011, in Hungary 44 women have been murdered by their husbands. Major reasons behind these numbers are the outdated laws (in fact, there is no separate law in Hungary against violence against women), passivity and unwillingness of the government to deal with this problem, as well as inappropriate treatment of domestic violence by the police that considers it to be a private matter. Patriarchy, sexism and everyday male chauvinism are widespread in Hungarian society nowadays, and they are the main triggers of the widespread of domestic violence against women and lack of appropriate treatment of this issue by the state.
Ca. 100 participants of the demo were going from Anker köz to Ferenc Liszt tér through Andrassy ut. It was not the best route, as the street is just a big central avenue with lots of posh shops and cafes, and there were not many passers-by, whose attention the demo could attract. The demonstrators were holding various transparencies and 8 red women dummies to symbolize those who died from domestic violence. There was also a Samba band drumming during the demo. The Samba peopel were shouting the following slogans while walking together with the crowd:
Aki erőszakot lát emelje fel a szavát! (Who witnesses violence raise the voice!)
Az erőszak nem magánügy! (The violence is not privacy!)
Break the silence, stop the violence!
Overall, it was a nice demo on a topic that rarely gets any attention in the Hungarian society.

A VIDEO