Photo of the Day: Nigerians demand the government #BringBackOurGirls

(Image via the BBC)

Today, protestors gathered in the Nigerian capitol of Abuja to demand the government do more to rescue the 200 teenage girls who were kidnapped two weeks ago while taking an exam at their school in northeastern Nigeria. Most assume the girls were taken by Boko Haram, a local Islamic extremist group whose name means “western education is forbidden.” As The New Yorker reports, the girls’ “only offense, it seems, was attending school.”

Right after the abduction, the Nigerian government claimed they’d rescued most of the girls (in fact, they haven’t rescued any) and then said only about 100 girls were kidnapped (while parents and teachers put the number at 234). In the weeks since, parents have attempted their own rescues and a few dozen girls have escaped by themselves (including the four girls marching in the photo below.) The latest horrible word from the locals is that the girls are being sold into marriage with the militants for $12 each and some have been moved to neighboring Cameroon and Chad.

Check out more photos from today’s protest, which was organized by the Women for Peace and Justice organization, here and here and here. And follow the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag.

These four students were among those who managed to escape their captors. (Image via the BBC)

Maya Dusenbery is an Executive Director of Feministing.