Tens of thousands of people rallied across Europe on Saturday against sexist violence, with more than 30,000 turning out in Paris.
Demonstrations across France drew around 50,000 people in all, according to organiser 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.
Elsewhere, a thousand people braved driving rain in Rome while similar protests drew several hundred demonstrators in Geneva and Athens on the eve of the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Sunday.
“The fight against violence against women is progressing daily but our society has a long way to go — everyone must act and fight as this is everybody’s business,” President Emmanuel Macron tweeted in offering his moral support.
Authorities put the Paris turnout at 12,000 and similar marches in Lyon, Marseille and Rennes at between 1,000 and 2,400, but Ms. De Haas felt moved to salute “the largest (feminist) mobilisation France has known”, far bigger than a rally that drew some 2,000 last year.
Participants clad in purple, the colour 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.
Rise in violence cases
“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 organised a similar rally last month in Paris.
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%.
Latest French government figures say 2017 saw 225,000 cases of domestic violence against women by their partners while 2016 saw 123 deaths.
In Spain, protesters took to the streets in Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia, and Bilbao, reflecting how the fight to stop violence against woman has become a national cause in the country.