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(LifeSiteNews) — Catholic churches were vandalized in Latin America by pro-abortion radicals to mark the worldwide observance of International Women’s Day on March 8.

Rioters broke windows, attacked police and civilians, and covered walls with anti-life graffiti and slogans in support of their so-called “right” to abortion access.

“In the name of respect and nonviolence, violence is done to us and we are insulted,” Bishop Óscar Aparicio said in a statement translated by the Catholic News Agency. Aparicio’s cathedral in the Diocese of Cochabamba, Bolivia, was one of the churches targeted by the attackers.

“I think this is unacceptable for all of us,” he said.

Attacks took place in Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador and other Latin American countries, but one of the hardest hit countries was Mexico, where one of the targets was the largest church in the Americas, the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven in Mexico City. According to Catholic News Agency, protesters attempted to vandalize the cathedral by tearing down the fence that surrounded it despite local police hitting them with tear gas.

In Pueblo, Mexico, rioters attempted to tear down statues of angels on the fence surrounding the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and also vandalized city hall with graffiti.

In the town of Mérida, protesters spray-painted the Cathedral of St. Ildefonsus of Yucatán with the words “Abort the Church.” In Xalapa, a minor seminary sustained damage from broken windows and graffiti.

Meanwhile, according to local Catholic news agencies, protesters in Xalapa demonstrated their “right” to abortion by screaming “death to pro-lifers,” and “keep your rosaries off my ovaries” while hurling paint at police and the faithful standing guard in front of El Beaterio church.

“Over 1,000 women and girls murdered in Mexico every year, and they’re attacking the churches,” said one user on Twitter in response to the story.

“More proof that it is a communist holiday,” another tweeted.

However, the attacks were not restricted to Mexico. Other countries also experienced large-scale pro-abortion activity on March 8 that included marches and vandalism.

In El Salvador, women marched in the streets to demand the “right” to abortion and to protest the criminal prosecution of a woman currently under trial for having an abortion. In Bolivia, the bishop’s cathedral, St. Sebastian, which dates to 1571, was another of the many churches attacked by rioters. And in Salta, Argentina, groups of pro-abortion terrorists broke down fences surrounding the Shrine of the Lord and the Virgin of the Miracle and beat up female police officers who were standing guard. One officer was reportedly transported to a hospital.

In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, the minor basilica of St. Lawrence Martyr was defaced by vandals, who sprayed the doors and columns with paint. The diocese said the basilica was only spared further damage through the faithful’s interference.

As previously reported by LifeSiteNews, this is not the first time that Latin America has experienced violence by pro-abortion extremists on International Women’s Day. In 2019, feminists in Argentina, Spain, and Uruguay marked International Women’s Day by throwing paint bombs, rocks, and gasoline bombs at churches while others sprayed graffiti on the outside walls of various churches.

Read: Feminists attack churches with gasoline bombs, rocks, graffiti on International Women’s Day

Yet while some chose violence to celebrate International Women’s Day, Pope Francis chose to advocate for peace.

“Let us #PrayTogether so that #women, every woman, may be respected, protected and esteemed,” he tweeted on March 8. “Violence against women and mothers is violence against God himself, who from a woman, from a mother, took on our human condition.”

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