Tens of thousands rally in France against sexual violence

PARIS: Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in several French cities Saturday to protest against sexual violence, the latest manifestation of outrage that has been sparked by the rape and killing of an 11-year-old girl.

The body of the girl, named Lyhanna, was found last month after she went missing on May 29 in the southwestern town of Fleurance.

The suspect, a 41-year-old father of a school friend of the victim, had twice before been formally accused of raping a child, but investigations had been dropped or had stalled.

The death has sparked outrage and calls for the resignation of justice minister Gerald Darmanin, who has refused to step down but apologised for what he called a “huge failure”.

On Saturday people marched in Paris shouting slogans such as “Truth emerges from the mouths of children!” and “160,000 children, what are you doing?”

Organisers said 100,000 people were participating in the Paris march and called it a “historic mobilisation against sexual violence”.

Eline, a 17-year-old high school student, was among the marchers. She said she had filed a rape complaint this year.

“The police officer told me that it wasn’t rape, that it could ruin the life of this man, he made me feel guilty and questioned what I had said,” she said.

“We cannot have an underfunded judicial system that protects attackers rather than victims. With 94% of rape complaints being dismissed without further action, there are many attackers who are reported to the courts and face no action,” Anne-Cecile Mailfert, president of the Women’s Foundation, said ahead of the demonstration.

Marches were held in about 110 cities across France, including Dijon in the east and Toulouse in the south.

Coalition

The organisers, embracing 180 associations, are calling for a comprehensive law rather than “piecemeal measures and laws” to fight sexual violence on all fronts from prevention to support for victims.

Since the Lyhanna case, the coalition has been organising weekly protests in front of regional courts in the Gers region, where she was found murdered and in front of the justice ministry in Paris.

President Emmanuel Macron has said that he feared for trust in France’s institutions over failings in investigating the main suspect in Lyhanna’s case.

A 2022 government report signalled limited staff and time to properly investigate allegations of child abuse. It found that in 70% of cases, after hearing the suspect, investigators did not carry out a further search for material evidence from a phone, camera or computer.