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Thursday March 28, 2024

Argentine mothers hold mass breastfeeding protest

By AFP
July 24, 2016

BUENOS AIRES: Hundreds of women turned out in Argentina to breastfeed in public Saturday, in protest at the removal of a mother for nursing publicly in a Buenos Aires square last week.

Waving signs that read "No repression; nursing is not up for discussion" and "My breasts, my rights; I´m not interested in your opinion," some 500 women demonstrated in support of Constanza Santos, who police took from the square for nursing her nine-month-old.

Instead of a sit-in, some called the protest a breastfeed-in.

Supporters said the case was disturbing and that they were not going to let mothers´ rights be trampled on.

Similar demonstrations were held in other cities, including Mar del Plata, Tucuman and Neuquen.

"This is great because it sheds light on a problem. And police need to be on the public´s side and not work against them," said Argentine human rights activist Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the 1980 Nobel peace laureate.