Protesters worldwide rally on International Women’s Day, fearing far right

PARIS - Protesters took to the streets across the world on March 8 to mark International Women’s Day, demanding equal pay, political representation and an end to gender-based violence while voicing fears of rising repression.

In eastern Ukraine, scores of demonstrators held a minute’s silence to honour women killed defending the country from Russia’s invasion. Many carried banners bearing the faces of the deceased.

“Women are half of our society and we need to talk about what they do, what they are like, how they protect and what they do to make our country free and independent,” activist Iryna Lysykova told AFP in Kharkiv.

Many of the women marking on the streets in European capitals including Paris, Berlin and Madrid said they feared the growing strength of reactionary political forces, including a resurgent far right.

“It is coming now and we’re taking backwards steps,” said Dori Martinez Monroy, 63, in the Spanish capital. “We have to reclaim what has already been won, because women are the first to be targeted.”

In Jakarta, one activist, Ajeng, accused the Indonesian government of budget cuts that were “making women lose their rights”.

“Women are killed, impoverished, criminalised,” she said, as nearby protesters held up placards reading “This body belongs to me” and “Glory to the women of the working class”.

“Indonesian woman are fighting against the state for these reasons,” he said.

‘Not over’

Some demonstrators their directed ire at US President Donald Trump.

In Paris, women from the Femen activist group marched topless with either the US or the Russian national flag, marked with a swastika, painted on their chests.

Dozens of women have alleged the Republican sexually abused them, and his administration has been accused of pushing through anti-women policies.

“This is a battle, it’s not over,” said 49-year-old Sabine, who was marching with her seven-year-old son in Paris, where organisers put turnout at around 250,000. Police gave a figure of 47,000.

“We’re going in the right direction: Trump, the masculinists, they make lots of noise but they’re not as strong as we are,” she told AFP.

At the Berlin protest, some protesters held placards bearing messages including “Burn the patriarchy not the planet”.

One marcher, Steff Voigt, expressed her fears for the future.

“I find it quite frightening how certain developments are reversing, how women’s rights could simply be moving backward again, so to speak, because of the right. Especially in the USA,” she said.

In Istanbul, more than 3,000 women marched peacefully through the city centre but police later detained some 200 demonstrators.

For years protests have been banned in the city’s central Taksim Square, which is habitually fenced off with barriers, but the authorities have in recent years tolerated rallies nearby albeit under a heavy security presence.

The Feminist Night March rally began at sunset near Taksim Square, with many demonstrators wearing purple and waving banners with slogans including “We won’t be silenced, we’re not afraid and we won’t obey” and “Long live our feminist struggle”.

Although the march ended without incident, organisers said police then started rounding up a number of protesters, posting footage showing officers roughly dragging several demonstrators out of the crowd.

“After the #FeministNightMarch finished and the crowd dispersed without incident, the police started to detain our friends in an act of provocation,” the march organisers wrote on X. “Nearly 200 women were unjustly detained on March 8!” they added.

There was no immediate comment from the Turkish authorities.

At the rally, Cigdem Ozdemir took aim at male violence against women and the Turkish authorities’ declaration of 2025 as “The Year of the Family”.

“Since 2025 was declared ‘The Year of The Family’, we as women have been confined to our homes,” the psychologist lamented, adding that LGBTQ people like her were “criminalised”.

“Today, we are here to make our struggle visible, to defend our lives against male violence, to defend our place in society and our rights.”

Iran’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi said it would be women who would overthrow the Islamic republic established after the 1979 revolution.

“Women have risen up against the Islamic republic in such a way that the regime no longer has the power to suppress them,” Mohammadi said in a video message where she was, as usual, not wearing the headscarf obligatory for all Iranian women.

Mohammadi, 52, who won the 2023 Nobel prize in recognition of her years-long fight for human rights in Iran, is currently on temporary release from a prison term for health reasons.

Her lawyers fear she could be sent back to prison at any time. AFP