In pictures: Top EU official joins campaign against sexist violence

Antonio Tajani paused a summit on Brexit to show support for a UN campaign

With thousands expected to join rallies against sexist violence around the world, in the middle of a major summit on Brexit there was a gesture of solidarity from a top EU official.

As he spoke on stage, European Parliament president Antonio Tajani smeared red make-up under his eye, an act intended to symbolise the domestic violence suffered by many women.

"Violence against women is unacceptable. I learned this from my mother and I'm teaching it to my children," he later tweeted.

Mr Tajani was showing his support the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Marked each year on 25 November, the day is the start of 16-day campaign, calling on people and organisations to address violence.

According to the UN, it will affect more than a third of women globally during their lives.

The bulk of the support was on the streets, with rallies on Saturday and more to come on Sunday. Here are some of the best pictures.

In Istanbul, Turkey, women's rights activists clashed with riot police who fired tear gas at them as they tried to march to Taksim Square

In Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, demonstrators took part in a march to demand the decriminalisation of abortion

In France, around 50,000 people joined protests on Saturday, including this one in Marseille

The high turnout was an answer to a citizen collective's call for a "feminist tidal wave" of outrage against gender violence, organiser Caroline de Haas said

Authorities said about 12,000 people joined this protest in the southern French city of Lyon

A Syrian Kurdish woman fighter watched other women demonstrate in the north-eastern Syrian city of Qamishli

In Barcelona, Spain, a woman held a placard reading "We are the voice of those who suffer in silence"

In South America, hundreds of Ecuadorian women came out under the banner "We want to live"

Meanwhile, a woman in the Italian capital, Rome, was also making her voice heard

These protesters in Athens, Greece, lay down at the spot where LGBT activist Zak Kostopoulos was killed in September

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