JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Hundreds of women wearing black gathered in a Johannesburg park on Friday, one day before the start of the Group of 20 summit, to stage a 15-minute lie-down protest symbolizing the 15 lives lost daily to gender-based violence in South Africa.

South Africa, while putting forward a progressive agenda on gender issues during its G20 presidency, has a femicide rate that is five times higher than the global average, according to U.N. Women, and has grappled with the problem for decades.

The protest was “a minute of silence for every woman that could have fallen within the day,” 19-year-old protest coordinator Courtney Gelderblom told The Associated Press. “So, every minute that we lie in silence is to mourn and honor those we have lost.”

Ordinary South Africans, celebriti

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