Football star Lionel Messi and President Cristina Kirchner led outraged Argentines in condemning violence against women Wednesday as the country readied a massive march following a series of brutal murders.

Huge numbers of protesters are expected to flood the streets of Buenos Aires and other cities across the country to protest the recent killings.

The country has been shocked by the murder of a kindergarten teacher whose estranged husband slit her throat in front of her class and that of a 14-year-old girl whose boyfriend is accused of beating her death because she got pregnant, among other recent episodes of violence against women.

Neighboring Chile and Uruguay will also join the march against "femicide," which 16 Latin American countries have written into their penal codes, setting down harsher punishments for the killing of a woman by a man when gender plays a part in the crime.

Argentina adopted a law in 2012 punishing the crime with life sentences, but domestic violence still killed 277 women last year, according to women's rights group La Casa del Encuentro.

"Enough femicides," Barcelona star Messi wrote on Facebook. "We join all Argentines today in shouting out loud 'Not One Woman Less'" -- the rallying cry for the march (Ni Una Menos, in Spanish).

President Kirchner spoke out on social media against a "culture that devastates women," condemning what she called the everyday "violence" of catcalls, dirty jokes, obscenities and TV programs that "objectify" women.

In addition to the "femicide" law, Argentina has a 2009 law to crack down on violence against women, but activists say it has not been effectively implemented.

The protest, which begins at 5:00 pm (2000 GMT), has received broad backing from women's rights groups, labor and student unions, political parties, and the Catholic Church.
Source: AFP