#Metoo campaign moves to French streets
PARIS: Thousands of people took the “Me too” online campaign against sexual harassment and assault started by the Harvey Weinstein affair onto the streets of France Sunday.
In Paris, the mostly female demonstrators in Republique square waved placards bearing the “#Metoo” hashtag used by tens of thousands of women in the past two weeks to share accounts of being pestered or abused.
“Metoo by a colleague”, read a sign carried by one woman. “Metoo by a fellow activist” read another.
Similar gatherings were also held in Marseille, Bordeaux and Lille, among other cities.
According to Paris police, 2,500 people turned out for the rally in the French capital. Elsewhere the numbers were smaller, with one or two hundred turning up for each march.
The rallies were organised by freelance journalist Carol Galand, who said she wanted to ensure the campaign to end sexual violence and harassment of women went “beyond social media buzz.”
Margot, an 18-year-old waitress demonstrating in Paris, told AFP that she had been molested by a male colleague at work.
When she brought it up with a superior she was told it was simply “his way of communicating”.
In Bordeaux, a young woman said she had remained silent about being drugged and raped at a party at the age of 15.
“You don’t talk about it because you don’t want it to cause a ruckus in your family,” she said.
French feminists have said they believe the #metoo campaign could mark a turning point on attitudes towards sexual predation in a country long seen as soft on the issue.
The campaign began in the US in response to the plethora of abuse allegations against film mogul Harvey Weinstein and was quickly copied in France, where many women used the #balancetonporc (expose your