SEXUAL VIOLENCE – “Rapist we see you, victim we believe you ” chanted the demonstrators in Paris, Marseille, Rouen and Avignon. Thousands of people gathered this Saturday, September 14 to support Gisèle Pelicot, drugged by her husband and then raped by dozens of men currently on trial in Avignon in the famous Mazan rape trial.
The Mazan affair has changed the way these women look at men: “I doubt my loved ones”
As you can see in the video at the top of the articlemore than a thousand demonstrators gathered in Paris, Place de la République. In Marseille, several hundred people – more than 1,000 according to the organizers – gathered in front of the courthouse hanging a banner “So that shame changes sides”.
At the other end of France, in Rennes, 200 to 400 people held up placards with the same slogan or “Protect your daughter, educate your son”, “We are all Gisèle”.
Huge courage that must be supported
The call to rally had been launched by several personalities and feminist organizations to support Gisèle Pelicot. By accepting that the trial of her husband, and the fifty men he had recruited on the internet to rape her while she was unconscious, be public, this 71-year-old woman has raised a powerful wave of support for victims of rape and sexual assault.
“It took a lot of courage, but it was fundamental. It allowed her to see the faces of her husband and all the others, to see that they were not marginal people but “good fathers”.”Justine Imbert, 34, who came to demonstrate in Marseille with her six-year-old daughter, told AFP.
“So that shame changes sides”
“We are faced with a victim who is extremely powerful, extremely courageous, who shows her face, who refused to go behind closed doors and who asks that the whole world have its eyes fixed on this case, so we are here to bring it to light and to ask that justice be done.”Elsa Labouret also emphasizes to AFP, spokesperson ofDare to be feminist! who demonstrated in Paris, Place de la République.
“We hope that this case sets a precedent for the management of sexist and sexual violence in the future.”she adds.
Because everywhere, the demonstrators expressed the wish that these subjects would no longer be taboo, while in another recent affair, accusations of sexual assault that had been kept quiet for a long time have also targeted Abbé Pierre since July.
The trial of Dominique Pelicot and his 50 co-accused of the Mazan rapes must push society and public authorities to act, according to the demonstrators.
Also see on Le HuffPost :
Mazan rape trial: Women’s Foundation proposes its ideas to end “rape culture”
Chemical submission at heart of trial of 51 men accused of raping a woman drugged by her husband
