Despite the coronavirus, International Women's Day gathers crowds

The Covid-19 epidemic that has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide has not prevented protesters from taking to the streets on this International Women's Day to ask for equality. The coronavirus , in fact, has become a “character” in some events: in Spain , which already accounts for 430 cases and five deaths, about 120 000 people gathered in Madrid with surgical masks to protest the “patriarcavirus”, with posters stating that this "disease" is more lethal than the new epidemic.

In France , where 10 people died from complications of the disease, activists from the ultra-radical group Femen gathered at Place de la Concorde with bare breasts, gloves and protective masks to denounce “the patriarchal pandemic”. The protesters chanted like "Who's doing the dishes?" and "We are making a revolution". On Saturday night (7), the protests ended with the arrest of nine people and the denunciation by human rights activists that the police acted with truculence.

In Brazil, where 25 cases were confirmed, protesters walked down Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo, and protested against the government of Jair Bolsonaro . The state has 16 patients, 15 of whom are in the capital. In Rio, which has counted three cases so far, the events of March 8 were more timid. In Latin America, the highlights were the demonstrations in Santiago, Chile , where more than 2 million people gathered to demand an end to gender violence, and the marches in Mexico City , the capital of the country with two deaths among the seven cases of coronavirus.

In nations where there is a high incidence of contamination, however, demonstrations have been suspended. In China , the state television network CCTV highlighted the work of doctors in the fight against the virus - the epicenter of the epidemic and has 3 100 deaths and 80 859 confirmed cases. In South Korea , the second country with the highest number of infected people, several events have been canceled. "Although we cannot be physically together, our determination to achieve equality between men and women is stronger than ever," Equality Minister Lee Jung-Ok said in a video. In Italy, where strict isolation measures were taken to contain the outbreak, President Sergio Mattarella also released a recorded message to express his thanks “to women, and there are many who work in hospitals and in (quarantine) zones to combat the spread of virus".