08.03.2024

On March 8, 2024, women and girls marched through the streets of Prishtina under the slogan “Our Bodies, Our Rights! For Each Other!”.

“We March, We Don’t Celebrate” was again co-organized this year by various civil society organizations.

We cannot remain silent in the face of a system that seeks to control us! Our collective organization is the only way out! We will organize on the streets, in schools, at work, and at home, just as we have always done. Aware that only by supporting each other have we won battles so far, and thus united and organized we are stronger for what lies ahead.

During this year’s annual march on March 8, feminist activists, girls, and women participants in the march were denied their right to protest. This right was taken away by the government, which prohibited them from using public spaces to list the demands of the march.

The Kosovo Police forcefully pushed and knocked down peaceful protesters, not allowing them to move freely and exercise their constitutional right to protest. The violence exercised by the Police was entirely unnecessary, disproportionate, and unreasonable. The Police showed efficiency in suppressing activists, but consistently fails when women are killed and raped, in both private and public spaces.

We demanded autonomy over our bodies, and police violence was unleashed upon our bodies. Therefore, the Police’s reaction to today’s march, ordered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, directly from the Government of Kosovo, is a message to feminist activists. Today’s violence aims to silence us!

However, we will not stop the fight. We stand firm, for each other. As such, we will demand that today’s violence against feminist activists be condemned as a constitutional violation of our fundamental right to protest.

THE STREETS BELONG TO US, NOT TO THE GOVERNMENT!