PARIS: Thousands took to the streets across French cities on Saturday to demand an end to rape and support the main plaintiff in a mass sexual assault trial that has shocked the country.

Gisele Pelicot, who is using her married name, has requested the trial of her ex-husband and 50 co-defendants since September 2 be made public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit abuse.

Dominique Pelicot, her partner of around five decades, has admitted to drugging her for years to rape her or watch her being raped while unconscious by several strangers he recruited online.

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The case has horrified France, especially as many of the co-accused are seemingly ordinary men with everyday jobs, and several of the suspects remain at large. “We are all Gisele,” a large crowd chanted in the capital Paris. “Rapist we see you, victim we believe you.”

In the southern city of Marseille, activists hung up a banner on the city’s court building calling for alleged perpetrators — not victims — to be ashamed.

“Shame must change sides,” it read, echoing Gisele Pelicot’s own words through one of her lawyers. Justine Imbert, 34, had come with her six-year-old daughter.

“It must have taken huge courage, but it was essential” for Gisele Pelicot to request the trial be public, she said. “It allows people to see the faces of her husband and all the others, to see they are not outcasts but ‘good fathers’.” Retiree Martine Ragon, 74, said she was there too to “call out rape culture”, referring to an environment in which sexual violence is normalised. “The media coverage on the trial will allow us to speak up about it,” she said.

In the western city of Rennes, a young woman held up a sign with the sentence “protect your daughters” crossed out. “Educate your son,” it read instead.

In the central city of Clermont-Ferrand, 26-year-old agricultural worker Stephane Boufferet said he hoped Gisele Pelicot would find justice. “When I read the story, I was disgusted, even disgusted to be a man,” he said.

France’s cinema industry has been rocked by allegations of sexual assault in recent years, including several against film legend Gerard Depardieu. But the trial in the southern city of Avignon has drawn attention on rape in everyday society. Among the protesters in Paris was Charlotte Arnould, an actor who had accused Depardieu of raping her in 2018 when she was 22 and anorexic.

The 75-year-old actor has been charged with rape in the case since 2020 and prosecutors last month called for him to face trial. Demonstrators in the capital also included the author of a book denouncing incest, Camille Kouchner, and lawmaker Sandrine Josso who last year accused a senator of drugging her with the aim of assaulting her.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2024