DHAKA: Hundreds of men and women marched in cities across Bangladesh on International Women’s Day on Wednesday to condemn acid attacks, which permanently disfigure many women each year in this mostly Muslim nation.

Celebrities and others took to the streets in Dhaka to call for an end to the attacks in which victims are splashed with flesh-burning battery acid, said Motiur Rahman, one of the organizers of the protest.

They carried placards and banners, reading, “No more acid attacks on women” and “Raise funds for acid victims.”

“We have no other choice but to fight against such heinous crimes,” said, Rahman, editor of the popular Prothom Alo newspaper, which has been campaigning against the attacks.

Similar protests were organized in at least 27 towns across the South Asian nation, where a total of 268 people, mostly women, were attacked with acid last year, according to the Acid Survivors’ Foundation, which helped sponsor the rallies.

Most of the victims are women attacked by spurned lovers, but recently more men and children are being splashed with flesh-burning, agonizingly painful sulfuric acid in family arguments or disputes over property, the foundation said. The chemical is easily obtained from battery shops or jewellers, who use it to brighten precious metals.

“We are here today to promise that we will make acid terrorism a history,” Ilias Kanchan, a popular film star, told the Dhaka rally. “We have to end this terrorism at any cost.”

On Tuesday, about 2,000 men marched in Dhaka to start this year’s women’s day campaign against acid violence, accompanied by dozens of female victims.

“I urge all to stand by us so we can fight against such crimes,” said Shirin Akter, 18, who was attacked by her spurned lover two years ago, her face scarred from the attack. “I am struggling hard to stand from the ruins of my devastated life. I wish no other woman becomes a victim like me.”

“We believe without men’s active participation we will not be able to eliminate such heinous crimes,” said Monira Rahman, spokeswoman for Acid Survivors’ Foundation.

In 2002, 485 women were victims of acid attacks, while 420 cases were reported in 2003 and 322 in 2004, according to the foundation’s statistics.—AP