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Women Rally Across Australia Demanding End to Violence Against Women

VOA News

   Scandalsinvolvingtwo separate sexual assault allegations that have
   rocked Australia's ruling party intensified Monday with mass protests
   across the nation demanding an end to sexual violence against women.

   Thousands of women marched on Parliament House in the capital Canberra
   in the March 4 Justice carrying signs emblazoned with various slogans
   demanding accountability, many of them carrying the hashtag
   #EnoughisEnough.Similar rallies also took placein Sydney, Melbourne and
   Brisbane.

   The highlight ofthe rally inCanberra was a surprise appearance by
   Brittany Higgins, a former staff member of Defense Minister Linda
   Reynolds who has alleged being raped by a senior staffer in Parliament
   House in 2019.Higgins told the crowd that her superiors, whom she once
   consideredher"idols," treated her differently after she
   reportedtherapeincident. "I wasn't a person who had just gone through a
   life changing traumatic event, I was a political problem," she said.

   Reynolds has come under fire for calling Higgins "a lying cow," which
   the minister said was not about Higgins' allegations of the assault,
   but the young woman's description of how she was treated after coming
   forward.Reynoldslaterexpressed remorseforthecommentsshemade in
   February. "Given that the comment was made public, which I never
   intended," she said in a statementon March 12."I also want toretractit
   andunreservedlyapologizeto Brittany Higgins and acknowledge the hurt
   and distress it caused to her."

     [1]pic.twitter.com/gnkc1G6Aks
     -- Linda Reynolds (@lindareynoldswa) [2]March 12, 2021

   The demonstrators demanded Prime Minister Scott Morrison address the
   rally, but hedeclined. Rally organizers refused the prime minister's
   invitation to meet privately with a delegation of protesters.

   Attorney-General Christian Porter has also come under fire over
   allegations that he raped a 16-year-old girl in 1988 when he was
   17.Porter has denied the allegations, and his attorneys announced
   Monday they have filed a defamation lawsuit against the Australian
   Broadcasting Corporation over a news article about the allegations.

References

   1. https://t.co/gnkc1G6Aks
   2. https://twitter.com/lindareynoldswa/status/1370200482086461442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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