24 hours in pictures: GBV protest in Cape Town, Mexico’s Independence Day parade and more

We bring you a visual snapshot of the day’s news events, featuring Mexico’s Paratrooper Regiment preparing for the annual Independence Day military parade in Mexico City, women marching in Cape Town to protest gender-based violence and femicide, riot police guarding the EULEX headquarters in Pristina amid protests over a war-crimes conviction, and RISE Mzansi’s Makashule Gana at the unveiling of election posters in Johannesburg. These are some of the compelling images from around the world.

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Over 100 women and a handfull of men marched to the City Hall and the police station to protest against against Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) on September 16, 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa. The protest was to address South Africa’s escalating gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) epidemic and also remembers the vulnerable women and children who have been killed. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)

Members of Mexico’s Paratrooper Regiment prepare to take part in the annual Independence Day military parade in Mexico City’s historic centre on September 16, 2026. (Photo by Carl de Souza / AFP)

A view shows the sunset behind Buyuk Camlica Mosque as the sky glows in orange and red hues in Istanbul, Turkiye, on September 16, 2026. (Photo by Ali Atmaca/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Dylan Jardim, from Big Save, organiser of the South African Heritage Day official Guinness World Record attempt for the most people braaiing at the same time poses for a picture in Watloo, Pretoria, 15 September 2026. Jardim and his team are attempting to gather 3 000 South Africans around 500 braais at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on 24 September to beat the current record held by Japan. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen

Zebra doves sit in cages during an annual bird singing competition for the Royal Trophy from Thai Princess Sirindhorn, in Thailand’s southern province of Narathiwat on September 16, 2026. (Photo by Madaree TOHLALA / AFP)

Rescuers excavate rubble to retrieve bodies from a collapsed building in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City on September 16, 2026. Gaza authorities said on September 16 that at least 20 people including five children had died and dozens more were missing after an apartment building collapsed from damage sustained in earlier Israeli strikes. The six-storey building, which had four apartments per floor, crumbled overnight onto nearby homes and tents in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City, according to the civil defence agency, which works as a rescue service under Hamas authority. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

French Republican Security Corps (CRS – Compagnies Republicaines de Securite) police officers intervene as French fishermen block the access of the oil depot of Frontignan, near Sete, south of France, on September 16, 2026 during a a protest aimed at drawing the government’s attention to rising fuel prices and the deterioration in their working conditions. (Photo by Gabriel BOUYS / AFP)

A juvenile Vereaux’s Owl is seen in the nest, as captured and submitted by The Citizen reader and Wildlife photographer Trevor Barnett in Linksfield, Johannesburg on Sunday, 13 September 2026. Picture: Trevor Barnett

Members of multinational naval forces participate in a humanitarian assistance and disaster response exercise as part of the UNITAS 2026 military maneuvers in Ancon, Peru, on September 16, 2026. Hosted by Peru, the 67th iteration of the world’s longest-running annual multinational maritime exercise brings together military forces from 24 nations to enhance interoperability, crisis response, and joint defense capabilities across the hemisphere. (Photo by Klebher Vasquez/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Riot police officers stand guard as people protest in front of the EULEX headquarters in Pristina on September 16, 2026, after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague convicted former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci and three former guerrilla commanders of war crimes. Kosovo’s former president Hashim Thaci was sentenced to 25 years by a tribunal in The Hague on September 16, 2026 for war crimes, the court said in a long-awaited verdict likely to spark outrage in the Balkan country. (Photo by Armend NIMANI / AFP)

A craftsman creates leather arms holsters at a leathercraft workshop in the Shawaka district of central Baghdad on September 16, 2026. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Indonesian firefighters try to extinguish a wildfire near resident area in Sematang Borang district of Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia, on September 16, 2026. El Nino conditions are fueling wildfires across Indonesia, with around 113,336 cases of respiratory illness reported, according to health officials. Children under the age of 5 account for 26,545 cases, more than 20% of all recorded acute respiratory infection cases. Around 12.5 million people have been affected by wildfires, according to data from the Indonesian Health Ministry. (Photo by Muhammad Fajri/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A graffiti mural depicting Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, directors of the documentary ‘NAZA’- which documents civilian deaths in Gaza, features testimonies from Israeli military personnel involved in targeting and remote killing mechanisms, and frame military operations as genocide – is altered in Ashdod, Israel, on September 16, 2026. Initially painted by an artist accusing the filmmakers of being ‘traitors,’ the text on the mural was subsequently modified by another artist to read ‘heroes.’ (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Makashule Gana at the unveiling of election posters ahead of the Local Government Election (LGE) at Zoo Lake on September 16, 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event marks an important step in RISE Mzansi’s campaign to offer voters new, capable and ethical leaders that can restore accountability, get the basics right and build municipalities that are clean, safe and prosperous. (Photo by Gallo Images/Luba Lesolle)

A model walks the runway during the 2027 Spring/Summer Thom Browne show as part of New York Fashion Week in New York on September 15, 2026. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)

Fishing boats pass under the Xiangshan Port Bridge in Ningbo, in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province on September 16, 2026. (Photo by CN-STR / AFP)

Models prepare backstage before the HUSHEGUANG HAUTE COUTURE collection show by designer Hu Sheguang during the Beijing Fashion Week on September 16, 2026 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

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