After resounding cases that have arisen in recent months, a march denouncing “the government’s inaction” in the fight against feminicides brought together several hundred people on Friday evening in Paris.
Gathered around placards “Silence, they are killing us”, “Not one more”, or “Complaints ignored, women killed”, the demonstrators – the vast majority of women – marched from Place du Châtelet to the Opera, chanting “Cops, take our complaints” or “Justice nowhere, feminicides everywhere”.
“Make visible survivors and families of victims”
“The fact is that we have seen an upsurge in feminicides in recent weeks, in the total indifference of the government and contempt”, denounced Léa, member of Collages feminicides Paris, one of the organizing collectives, demanding “more resources for more of serious danger phones, anti-reconciliation bracelets and training courses ”. For her, the objective of the march was also “to make visible survivors and families of victims”, and that women “reclaim the street”.
Annie, Gloria, Aurélie, Chahinez, anonymous septuagenarian … At the head of the procession, activists carried white signs with the names in black letters of women killed in 2021 by their companion or ex, prostitutes and trans women killed. Others demanded “pardon for Valérie Bacot”, sentenced Friday evening to a symbolic sentence for the murder of her violent husband and pimp, and left the court free. “We are calling for an urgent change in our society because violence is recurrent in the lives of women. We need more training for professionals on these subjects, awareness and listening, ”said Aurore, protester, 28-year-old history and geography teacher.
Explosion in 2019
After the murder of Chahinez, a mother of three gunshot wounded and then set on fire in the street by her violent recidivist husband, in early May in Mérignac, the government announced six measures, some of which already exist, to “strengthen protection the victims “.
Since this case, which has aroused strong indignation, at least a dozen other women have lost their lives or failed to lose their lives as a result of domestic violence, according to an AFP count. The ultimate stage in the violence suffered by more than 200,000 women per year, feminicides experienced a sharp increase in 2019, with 146 deaths recorded (25 more than in 2018). In 2020 according to figures from the Ministry of Justice, 90 women were killed by their spouse or ex-spouse.