Violence against women: 'Day of the dead women' protest in Mexico City

Following “Day of the Dead” celebrations, demonstrators marched through Mexico City calling for an end to violence against women.

The marchers carried more than 100 purple crosses through the capital, each bearing the name of a woman who has been murdered or gone missing.

The demonstration was called “Dia de Muertas”, or “Day of the Dead Women”.

Femicide, the murder of a woman because of her gender, kills 12 women daily in Latin America according to the UN.

Large posters showed the faces of missing or murdered women in rows of up to forty, with captions calling for justice. Another poster simply read “Not one more”.

The names of the victims were also written on the surfaces of two larger purple crosses that were carried through the demonstration.

The march was organised by “Voices of Absence”, led by Frida Guerrera, a journalist and activist.

The group say they want to give a voice to the women who are killed because of their gender by raising awareness of cases, and demanding justice through the legal system.

Frida Guerrera posted about the march on her website, saying it represented “the eternal altars that are installed in the homes of these families in perpetual mourning”.

Latin America is home to 14 of the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicide in the world, and 98% of gender-related killings go unprosecuted.

An initiative for eliminating violence against women in Latin America was launched by the UN last year.

The deputy head of the UN, Amina Mohammed, praised Mexico, among other Latin American countries, for having the “political courage to confront and end femicide”.