Thousands of demonstrators marched in several cities in France on Saturday (November 23) to denounce violence against women, with the trial over the mass rape of Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot orchestrated by her husband as a backdrop.

In Paris, around 7,000 people took to the streets holding banners and chanting slogans ahead of Monday, which marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

"There's lots of things to change. There's the education of young boys, throughout life, we have to change things. It will be hard, but it's possible," retired teacher Michele Even said.

According to its most recent figures, France's National Observatory for Violence against Women counted 118 women being killed by their partner, equivalent to one woman every three days.

A total of 321,000 women said they were subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by their partners in 2022, and 217,000 said they were victims of either rape or sexual assault that year, according to the report.

Saturday's marches come amid the trial over the mass rape of Gisele Pelicot, organised by her husband over 10 years.

Dominique Pelicot, her husband, has admitted to drugging his wife, 71, and inviting strangers to their house to rape her while she was unconscious, in a trial that has attracted worldwide attention and turned into an examination of the pervasiveness of sexual violence.

Most of the 50 other men on trial have said they did not realise they were raping her, did not intend to rape her or put all the blame on her husband, whom they said had manipulated them.

In Avignon, where the trial is being held, hundreds of demonstrators also gathered on Saturday to express their support to Gisele Pelicot.

"We thank her for making this trial visible to the public and for showing that aggressors are not monsters in the street, they're Mr. Everybody, and we have to seriously put every one of us in question individually for things to change," Avignon demonstrator Marine Thebaud said.

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