Thousands of participants are joining together in the Bay Area today to call for the end of domestic violence against women and girls as part of the global campaign “One Billion Rising.”
Apl.de.ap of the hip-hop group “Black Eyed Peas” will join San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, District Attorney George Gascon, other city officials and women leaders on the steps of San Francisco City Hall for a 4 p.m. rally that aims to bring attention to the suffering of women in abusive relationships.
The event, which includes participants in more than 200 countries, falls on Valentine’s Day to draw attention to the statistic that one of every three women and girls worldwide will be beaten or raped in their lifetime.
A flash mob dance, taiko drummers and other performers at City Hall are part of the rally, which will promote justice for survivors and empower women.
There are at least a dozen One Billion Rising events taking place throughout the Bay Area, including in Sonoma County, where a group is hosting a rally at 13-year-old shooting victim Andy Lopez’s memorial site.
Andy was fatally shot in October by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy while wielding a toy gun.
Today’s event will be held at his memorial at Moorland and West Robles avenues just south of Santa Rosa, where the teen was killed.
At last year’s inaugural Valentine’s Day event in San Francisco, there were some 5,000 participants and more are expected this year, according to Gascon’s office.
Ahead of the rally, female inmates at San Francisco County Jail will perform a dance to “Break the Chain,” a song that is part of the One Billion Rising campaign.
This morning, the women’s activist group Code Pink broke out into a flash mob dance and shimmied across the Golden Gate Bridge to support the effort to end sexual oppression and violence against women and girls.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
