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"We just want to play in peace. We don't want to be afraid of getting killed," they shouted during the demonstration.
Citizens on Sunday demanded Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei to put an end to murders, kidnappings, disappearances, and sexual harassment suffered by girls and teenagers in the country.
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The protesters biked to the Interior Ministry and the National Palace of Culture, where they displayed banners that read, "Girls can't be touched" and "the State doesn't take care of us."
During the demonstration, which was called by the Tejiendonos, Urbanos, and Coincidir feminist movements, they shouted, "We just want to play in peace. We don't want to be afraid of getting killed."
The Guatemalan girls also demanded justice for the murder of 8-year-old Shanon Figueroa, whose body was found on Feb. 10, two days after she disappeared while playing on her bike outside her home in the Peten Department. The autopsy revealed that she was beaten and strangled.
#Guatemala: 'A man threatens to kill & sexually harasses a 9-year-old girl in San Marcos, her mother makes the complaint 3 times the authorities did nothing, identifies aggressor as Walter Daniel Sical Orozco. Several women joined the complaint' #ChildRights #HumanRights #DDHH https://t.co/kMaoKSjm4V
— Roberto Jones (@rjstrikers) February 14, 2021
"I feel afraid every time my daughters go out. We live in fear and insecurity permanently. It's not paranoia, we are getting killed," human rights activist Silvia Trujillo tweeted.
Following Shanon's murder, Giammattei suggested applying the death penalty to the crime's perpetrators, although that sentence is unconstitutional and it has not been applied since 2000.
In 2020, Guatemala registered 494 femicides. According to official information, at least 60 girls and women have been murdered so far this year.
Guatemala wants to reinstate the death penalty. pic.twitter.com/E7QEFEQ66p
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) February 12, 2021
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