Thousands of people took to the streets after a harrowing case of a teen cut hundreds of times shocked the nation. The girl was attacked almost a month ago but the court, after hearing the case, qualified the injuries as "mild" and didn’t order the abuser to be detained.

"Let's stop the genocide of women!"

Car traffic in Sofia, Stara Zagora, Vidin, Varna and many other cities was halted for the duration of the protests. Thousands of women and men chanted slogans in front of the Palace of Justice in the Bulgarian capital.

"Not a single woman more", "Let's stop the genocide of women" and "We will not be silent" slogans could be seen and heard as at least 5,000 Bulgarians took to the streets.

The outburst of anger occurred after an interview with the mother of the abused girl was published. The woman reported that her daughter's abuser had been released by the court. The man was alleged to have inflicted a number of injuries on the girl, but the prosecution deemed them "too light" to proceed with the case. After the story was publicised, both the judge and the prosecutor tried to explain their decision, but this did not stop the wave of protests.

As tvn24.pl reports, the protests coincided with an amendment to the law against domestic violence, passed by Bulgarian parliament last week. According to many human rights organisations and those focusing on women's rights, the adopted solutions are too lenient and do not guarantee the protection of victims.

On Monday 31 July, new charges were brought against the attacker and he was put in custody.

Bulgaria is yet to ratify the Istanbul Convention, a text aimed at protecting women from violence. So far it refused to do so due to the use of the word "gender" in the text of the convention, The Guardian reports.

Source: tvn24.pl, PAP, The Guardian