“We are silencing victims, freeing aggressors”
Hundreds demonstrated today in Lisbon and Funchal, Madeira, in protest to the case of the 16-year-old allegedly raped by Tik Tok ‘influencers’ who have not had any constraints put on their liberty in spite of posting footage of the attack online – viewed by no less than 32,000 ‘followers’, none of whom made any kind of complaint to the authorities.
As media stations have stressed, it was the hospital Beatriz Ângelo, to which the victim went for help, that alerted authorities to the attack.
Representatives of Bloco de Esquerda, Livre and PAN were present at the rally in Lisbon (PAN was part-responsible for organising the protest in Funchal) and, in statements to journalists, the various party leaders and representatives argued that rape should become a public crime, and that multinational platforms, which manage social networks, should be held legally responsible for sharing images and videos of sexual crimes.
In Funchal, PAN’s Ana Moniz told reporters: “We want justice. Perpetrators in these cases cannot go unpunished”, considering it “unacceptable” that the three young men were not held in preventive custody. “We are silencing victims and freeing aggressors (…) We are here in solidarity not only for this young woman, but for all women who are victims of sexual violence, macho violence,” she said.
The slogan “no means no” (alluding to the victim’s entreaties for the attack to stop), was one of the most ‘shouted’ at the Lisbon protest – organised by a ‘spontaneous group of seven women’, and then joined by 140 collectives and associations.
Banners proclaimed “Rape is not filmed, it is condemned”, “Don’t share, denounce!” (in reference to the complete lack of social media viewers’ action) and “It’s not content, it is rape!”
The trio, aged between 17 and 19, suspected of this crime were arrested by PJ Judicial Police in March, but released by the court on the lightest of bail conditions (to remain living at their home addresses). They were also banned from contact with the victim.
As media stories have explained, the victim “wanted to meet her TikTok idols, but ended in a storage room of a building with the alleged rape filmed and shared over social media”. ND
source material: LUSA/ SIC Notícias
