Recommendations of the Editorial team
Following recent developments and widespread public support, Collien Fernandes has called on her followers to demonstrate. This will take place on Sunday (March 22nd) in Berlin and will draw further attention to the issue of sexual violence.
Thank you via Instagram post
In an emotional Instagram statement, she first thanked you for the encouragement: “Dear everyone! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for this overwhelming support, which really helped me get out of a very deep valley.”
At the same time, she makes it clear that she is not just concerned with her own case, but with a structural problem: “Let’s be LOUD and stay LOUD! Let’s bring LIGHT into the DARK FIELD!”
Collien Fernandes announces demo
The demonstration will take place in Berlin:
- Location: Brandenburg Gate
- Date: Sunday March 22nd
- Time: 4:00 p.m
Fernandes calls for us to set an example together to ensure more visibility and social pressure in dealing with violence. In her statement, the presenter and actress refers to figures from a current study by the Federal Criminal Police Office. Accordingly, only around five percent of psychological and physical partner violence and 2.4 percent of digital violence are reported. “What does that mean? Most perpetrators get away with it! Well hidden behind the oft-quoted wall of silence!”
“SEXUAL VIOLENCE, PHYSICAL and PSYCHIC VIOLENCE are more widespread than one might imagine. They take place in the MIDDLE of our society,” she explains further. She describes the image of the perpetrators particularly vividly: “It’s not just the others and the perpetrators are often not what fiction presents them to us: scary-looking villains. It’s the men in our midst. The nice ones, the funny ones, the likeable ones.”
Demand for social change
According to Fernandes, the demonstration is based on clear demands: more protection for those affected, greater awareness of the problem and concrete legal consequences. She formulates her goal as follows: “For a NEW SOCIETY in which perpetrators are put in their place and in which victims have the courage to stand up!” She received a lot of support for the protest call in the comments, including from personalities such as Motsi Mabuse, Louisa Dellert, Malte Zierden and Rebecca Mir. However, it is unlikely that Fernandes himself will take part in the demo. According to media reports, she was most recently in Vietnam for a shoot, as the most recent photos on Instagram show.
