A number of 1,600 candles were lit in memory of the victims of violence under the slogan “No to Violence”. The event took place in the Square of Europe in Chisinau's central park on Wednesday evening. If formed part of the activities carried out as part of the “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence” campaign, Info-Prim Neo reports. The 19th consecutive year, the organizers of the event aim to sensitize the people to gender-based violence. The organizers included Amnesty International Moldova, the International Center LaStrada, HomoDiversus Pro and Winrock Moldova. Mihaela Copot, executive director of HomoDiversus Pro, said the major aim of the event was to stimulate the people and the state to cooperate in combating violence. “We planned to light 1,600 candles so that the people in Moldova realize that domestic violence exists, but can be stopped. We hope these actions will help change the situation. Speaking about this phenomenon, we are already one step forward.” Veronica Josan, volunteer coordinator at LaStrada, said the team of educators 'from equal to equal' have participated in activities against violence the second year as they want the people to acknowledge the danger and take steps to fight violence. She said that on November 1, 2009, LaStrada launched a hotline for women (0 8008 8008) to provide psychological advice and emotional support and propose solutions to the encountered problems. Denis Cenusa, organizational development and mobilization coordinator at Amnesty International Moldova, said an equal number of women and men have been engaged in the action. “We try to show that this problem concerns not only the women, but also the men. Both women and men can become victims of violence, but owing to the historical premise the women are victims of torture and violence more often. Denis Cenusa also said that the April events showed that Moldovan has yet a lot of work to do to ensure the observance of the human rights principles. During the event, there were presented videos and distributed informative leaflets about violence. The activists of the participating organizations gave the passersby roses as a symbol of love and solidarity with the victims of violence.