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.
Gen Z protests swept 34 German cities on Saturday (31 October) over education, living costs and military service proposals. Violence erupted in Fra...
Iran designated Britain's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as terrorist organisations on Sunday, (1 November), and classified the country's f...
Since 2021, only 9 per cent of $8 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan can be traced beyond initial recipients in public re...
The U.S. has approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine in a deal worth an estimated $2.1 billion, but Kyiv could face years of delays before receiving the weapons it urgently needs to defend against intensifying Russian attacks.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered Iran's armed forces to respond to any threat immediately and without geographical limits in statements posted to social media platforms on Saturday (31 October).
Demonstrators carrying Iranian flags and placards supporting the hijab gathered outside the Azerbaijani Embassy in London.
A Chinese-made AI chip has matched Nvidia’s H200 in tests conducted by its developer, marking a potential breakthrough in China’s efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign technology.
A hacking group linked to North Korea is widely believed to be behind the theft of $6.3 billion from cryptocurrency giant Binance, a cyberattack that experts describe as the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
Gen Z protests swept 34 German cities on Saturday (31 October) over education, living costs and military service proposals. Violence erupted in Frankfurt, where shops were looted and police reported Molotov cocktail attacks.
Iran designated Britain's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as terrorist organisations on Sunday, (1 November), and classified the country's foreign intelligence agency, MI6, as a hostile group, according to a statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Thousands protested in Albania's capital, Tirana, on Saturday (31 October), demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama's resignation over perceived corruption allegations and dissatisfaction with the government over a lack of jobs and poor education standards.
Russia has agreed to work with Ghana on developing a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant following talks at the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said on Saturday.
Foreign ministers from the U.S., Japan, Australia and India raised concerns over export restrictions and economic coercion at a Quad meeting in Atlanta, U.S., on Saturday, 31 October 2026, according to their joint statement.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment