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Hundreds of people took to the streets of Montevideo, Uruguay, in protest Thursday after the most recent in a series of femicides.
Roughly over 300 people marched on the main avenue of Montevideo to reject violence against women, which according to activists, pointing to publicly available reports and statistics, is a major problem in the country. The demonstration was sparked by the murder of a 68-year-old woman at the hands of her partner in Moreina.
"The feminist struggle in Latin America is on the alert," women chanted while walking alongside children and men supportive of their cause as they marched through the Uruguayan capital, EFE reports.
Maria Moreira was shot and killed by her partner on Oct. 22. Her death marks the 31st femicide in Uruguay this year.
"Once again we are robbed of our lives, once again a femicide, of a woman murdered by her partner," Coordinator for Feminismos de Uruguay, a women's rights organization, said in a statement published ahead of the protest.
"We are on alert because the oppressor lives among us and because it has a unique connection; domination and the response to it is always violence. Once again a man kills, patriarchy shows its teeth and takes another one of us," the statement says.
The Uruguayan Prosecutor's office has requested 180 days of preventive detention for the male suspect involved in Moreira, which would allow them to gather evidence and file charges.
Last April a bill was approved by the Senate officially declaring femicide a criminal offense.
The man in custody has confessed to committing the murder and could spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty under the law.
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