Thousands answer call to march against sexist violence

World
Europe

‍Tens of thousands of people rallied across Europe on Saturday against sexist violence, with more than 30,000 turning out in Paris, where a separate protest against rising fuel prices brought clashes.

Anti-violence rallies across France drew around 50,000 people in all, according to organizer Caroline de Haas, to answer a citizen collective's call for a "feminist tidal wave" of outrage against gender violence brought into sharp focus by the #MeToo movement.

Around 1,000 braved the driving rain in Rome while similar protests drew several hundred in Geneva and Athens.

Authorities put the Paris turnout at 12,000 and similar marches in Lyon, Marseille, and Rennes at between 1,000 and 2,400, but De Haas felt moved to salute "the largest (feminist) mobilization France has known," far bigger than a rally that drew some 2,000 last year.

Participants clad in purple, the color of the #NousToutes women's activist protest movement, shouted slogans including "sick of rape," "end impunity for aggressors" and "a woman is never responsible for the violence she suffers," while also demanding sufficient government resources to tackle the issue.

"I am here to support all the victims and continue this struggle which started long before I came along," said French actress Muriel Robin, who had organized a similar rally last month in the capital.

The rallies drew a number of men, including Tanguy, a 19-year-old student who turned out in the western city of Rennes to declare backing for "a movement which is not based on sex -- it's not a fight pitting men against women but a fight by men and women, together, against inequality."

The #NousToutes movement started out in France in September, inspired by the #MeToo campaign that began last year since when the number of cases of sexual violence reported to police in France has risen 23 percent.

Latest French government figures say 2017 saw 225,000 cases of domestic violence against women by their partners while 2016 saw 123 deaths.

A day ahead of Sunday's UN-designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women there were further marches in a number of cities across Europe

French President Emmanuel Macron last year made sexual equality a priority of his presidency.

But "if the money is not forthcoming public policy won't follow on," warned De Haas, speaking two days after several civic organizations called for a huge increase in public resources dedicated to the problem.

Source(s): AFP