Tens of thousands of people in Italy protested to stop violence against women after a university student was murdered.
Giulia Cecchettin was reportedly killed by her former boyfriend just days before she was supposed to graduate.
Many people gathered in Milan and Naples, and there was a lot of traffic in the center of Rome.
The president of Italy said that it’s not okay to kill women.
On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Sergio Mattarella said: “Recent news stories have deeply affected the country’s conscience. ”
“A society that wants to be considered civilised cannot allow or tolerate these repeated attacks on women and murders,” he said. He also said that society’s failure to prevent violence against women is unacceptable.
The Italian interior ministry says 106 women have been killed in the country this year, and 55 of them were killed by their partner or ex-partner.
The protests are happening because people are very angry and upset about the murder of a 22-year-old student named Ms Cecchettin. She was studying biomedical engineering at the University of Padua and was supposed to graduate last week.
Several activities were scheduled for the day, such as marches, races, walks, surprise gatherings, protests, and even free gynecological check-ups to bring attention to violence against women and male dominance in Italy.
Mr Cecchettin’s dad, Gino Cecchettin, spoke to students at the University of Padua and showed a red bench in memory of women who have been hurt or killed by violence.
He said that even though we can’t bring Giulia back, he wants to inspire many good things to happen because of her death.
Ms Cecchettin went missing on November 11th when she and Filippo Turetta went to buy her graduation clothes.
The couple went missing, but later video from a security camera showed Mr. Turetta, who is 22 years old, hitting his ex-girlfriend in a parking lot near her home in Vigonovo, close to Venice. This is according to the judge who is investigating the case.
Turetta was caught by the police near Leipzig in Germany after they searched for him all over the world.
He came back to Italy on Saturday afternoon and has not been officially accused of any crime yet.
According to the news from Corriere del Veneto, he is in jail in Verona, and a first court meeting is planned for Tuesday.
Giorgia Meloni, the first woman to become prime minister of Italy, is very upset about the many cases of violence against women by their partners or ex-partners in the country’s history.
She said she will start a new program in schools to fight against the continued problem of violence against women in Italy.