Demonstrations across France against violence against women

Photo: Thibaud Moritz Agence France-Presse These purple-colored demonstrations gathered at least 20,000 people throughout France according to figures from the prefectures, with organizers claiming 100,000 participants nationwide.

Agence France-Presse in Paris

Published at 17:07

• Europe

They are calling for a “surge” and a “comprehensive framework law”: in France, from Paris to Marseille, thousands of people — many women, but also men — marched on Saturday to demand a “surge” against violence against women.

“The more there are of us, the more visible we will be, it’s everyone’s business, not just women’s,” says Peggy Plou, a local elected official from central France, interviewed in Paris as part of a procession of 80,000 people according to the organizers, 12,500 according to the authorities.

These purple-colored demonstrations brought together at least 20,000 people throughout France according to figures from the prefectures, with the organizers claiming 100,000 participants nationwide.

In Marseille, some 800 people, according to the authorities, including many young people, gathered at the Old Port to denounce sexist violence.

“Let's break the law of silence, shame is changing sides” or “No means no”, could be read on placards held up by the demonstrators or placed on the ground.

“I feel concerned, we all have a role to play, men in particular”, explains Arnaud Garcette, 38, who works in development aid. “We are at the source of the problem and at the source of the solutions too,” adds the man who came with his family, with his two children.

A little further on, a woman is carrying a placard where she has crossed out the phrase “protect your daughters” to highlight the slogan “educate your sons”.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

“My aunt was murdered by her ex-partner 25 years ago in what was then called a crime of passion. This is no longer possible!” “, says Sophie Régnier Carbonnell, 52, in Toulouse, where the prefecture counted 950 demonstrators and the NousToustes31 association between three and four times more.

These demonstrations took place two days before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, on Monday.

“Patriarchal violence”

This mobilization against all forms of violence (sexual, physical, psychological, economic, etc.) is taking place this year in France in a particular context, in the middle of the trial of around fifty men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was unconscious, drugged without her knowledge by her husband in Mazan, a small town in the south of France.

This internationally acclaimed trial, where the indictment scheduled to last three days begins on Monday, “shows that rape culture is rooted in society, as is violence against women,” stressed Amandine Cormier, from the organization Grève féministe, during a press conference Wednesday in Paris.

“Patriarchal violence is practiced everywhere, in homes, in workplaces, places of study, in the street, in transport, in healthcare establishments, absolutely everywhere in society,” she added.

The call for mobilization was signed by more than 400 organizations and personalities, including the singer Angèle and the actress and director Judith Godrèche.

“Successive governments have made many promises but the means are derisory and declining, political action is almost non-existent”, deplore the signatories, who call for a “real leap forward”.

In November 2017, a few months after his accession to the French presidency, Emmanuel Macron declared equality between women and men “a major cause of the five-year term”, with the “first pillar” being the fight “for the complete elimination of violence against women”.

An emergency number, 3919, for women victims of violence and their entourage, has been set up as well as emergency telephones and anti-rapprochement bracelets in particular.

Measures welcomed by women's rights associations who nevertheless judge them insufficient.

They are demanding a total budget of 2.6 billion euros per year and a “comprehensive framework law” to replace current legislation that they consider “fragmented and incomplete”.

In early November, the Secretary of State for Gender Equality Salima Saa promised that she would announce “concrete and effective measures” by 25 November.

These measures will aim, among other things, to “improve the systems” for reaching out to victims, particularly in rural areas, and to strengthen “the reception and care of victims, she specified.”