Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/702975
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 13 JULY 2016 7 News Protestors march in Valletta to call for end to domestic violence TIM DIACONO SOME 150 people, mostly women, marched in Valletta to call for an end to domestic violence. They walked down Repub- lic Street, bearing placards with slogans such as 'Love should not hurt', 'Stop vic- tim blaming', 'Machismo kills', 'Implement Istanbul Convention Now', the latter in reference to a 2011 Coun- cil of Europe convention to prevent domestic violence, to which Malta is a signa- tory. The protest was held fol- lowing the recent murder of Eleanor Mangion Walker, with her estranged husband the main suspect. It was organised by the Women's Rights Foundation, an NGO spearheaded by civil rights law yer Lara Dimitrijevic that recently made headlines by filing a judicial protest to call for the licensing of the morning-after pill. Opposition leader Simon Busuttil and Opposition MPs Kristy Debono and Claudette Butrigieg attend- ed the protest. No Labour MPs were in attendance. Ahead of the march, the names of recent victims of domestic violence in Malta were pinned onto the f loor outside Parliament by wom- en's shoes. "People in the 21st century are still in denial that vic- tims of domestic violence exist," Dimitrijevic told the crowd. "One in four women suffer physical abuse in their lifetime, one in three women suffer psychological vio- lence, and one in two are vic- tims of sexual harassment. One quarter of homicides in Malta are of women at the hands of their partner or ex- partner, but their deaths will not be forgotten." Hundreds saved in one rescue, four bodies recovered from rickety boat MOAS crew onboard the Topaz Responder saved the lives of 352 people, who left Libya on a wooden boat MIRIAM DALLI FROM ABOARD THE TOPAZ RESPONDER 352 people were saved during the early hours of Tuesday morning by the Migrant Offshore Aid Sta- tion MOAS crew on board the Topaz Responder. The wooden boat carrying the Eritrean migrants was spotted at around 3.30am when the boat was picked up by the vessel's ra- dar. Travelling at four knots, search and rescue officers immediately realized that the boat was car- rying migrants but could not intervene as the boat was still in Libyan waters. It would later transpire that four men died in the hold of the rickety vessel. Packed tight like sardines in a tin, the migrants could not breathe properly: fumes, lack of air and e x h a u s t i o n took their toll on the weakest of the group who left Libya on M o n d a y at around 11pm from Zawija. Among the survivors were 120 women – six of whom were pregnant – and around 20 children under the age of five. Constantly monitoring the ves- sel, the fast rescue daughter craft (FRDC) was then deployed and the rescue operation started at some 17nm off the Libyan coast. A quick inspection of the vessel showed that several women and children were on board. Lifejackets were handed out while rescue of- ficials warned the migrants to remain calm. The sea was some- what choppy and, jammed as it was and taking in water, the risk of the boat overturning was high. Whilst the majority of the mi- grants were ferried to the moth- er ship, the wooden vessel was eventually brought closer to the Topaz Responder in a bid to hur- ry the transfer of the migrants. The assistance of the medical crew from the Emergency NGO was required as two men were in critical condition. The situation was urgent as cardiopulmonary resuscitation was carried out on three passengers, one of whom had to be medically evacuated by the Italian navy and transferred by helicopter to a hospital in Lampedusa. The woeful sound of men cry- ing and women wailing echoed through the vessel as the bodies of the four deceased, wrapped in body bags, were transferred from the wooden boat onto the ship's morgue, passing in front of the survivors. At the same time that MOAS was engaged in its own rescue mission, other private missions out at sea were busy rescuing mi- grants spotted on cheap, rubber dinghies. Unless Topaz Responder's as- sistance is required in the area of operation and forced to turn back, the ship will continue on its way to Sicily to disembark the migrants and hand them over to the Italian authorities. The survivors included 120 women – six of which were pregnant – and around 20 children under the age of five