Philippines mass dancing to end violence against women

Manila: Hundreds of women staged a mass dancing event here on Sunday as part of the “One Billion Rising” campaign to demand an end to violence against women.

About 400 women, most of them wearing bright pink “One Billion Rising” shirts, gathered at 7.30 a.m. in Rizal Park and started dancing, EFE news reported.

People from all areas of the capital joined the event as well as students from the country’s major universities.

Eve Ensler, the American author of the play “The Vagina Monologues” who founded the campaign movement in 2012, also took part in the event.

Although almost all participants were women, a few men turned up for the campaign, including Neri Javier Colmenares, a member of the Philippines Congress.

The Rizal Park event was at least the second “One Billion Rising” campaign held over the past several days in the Philippines.

On February 10 hundreds of people danced at the Capitol grounds in Cebu city to spur on the fight against abuse of women.

IANS