A March 8 marked by divisions.

Several thousand people, largely women, marched on Friday March 8 in Paris and several French cities in defense of gender equality during a festive but scattered demonstration in the capital, tensions between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian activists.

“Abortion, PMA, it’s my body, it’s my choice”, chanted demonstrators who met at the beginning of the afternoon at Place Gambetta, shortly after the ceremony of sealing the voluntary termination of pregnancy in the Constitution, organized at midday at Place Vendôme in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron and many figures of feminism.

Like every March 8, this demonstration was an opportunity for associations to march to defend women's rights and equality with men, particularly in the professional world, and to denounce domestic or sexual violence on the occasion of International Women's Day.

The number 1 of the CGT, Sophie Binet, claimed 100,000 demonstrators in the streets of the capital.

"I come every year, this year it was important for me to come to denounce sexual and gender-based violence but also the theft of university work from female colleagues by men which is more frequent than we think, it is intolerable,” Elfie, 34, a doctor in history and university professor, told AFP, who did not want to give her name.

Julie Doidy, 19, a visual arts student, holds a sign reading “THANK YOU JUDITH”: “I wanted to say thank you to Judith Godrèche for speaking like that, her words will free many, it’s super important” , she said, in reference to the actress's accusations against directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon.

Several personalities from the political and trade union world took part in the parade.

Invectives exchanged between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine

In this procession, in which the LFI deputy François Ruffin participated in particular, there were also activists from the association We will live, created after the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 to denounce the rapes and sexual violence committed by the commandos of the Islamist organization, noted AFP journalists.

These activists, supervised by masked men, were many wearing jogging pants stained with fake blood "in reference to Naama Levy, one of the first women we saw in the images of the attack" of October 7, according to Julie Arfi member of the association.

Also read: In Israel, the difficult investigation into Hamas sex crimes

Demonstrators hold signs in support of Israeli women, attacked on October 7 by Hamas commandos, during a march as part of International Women's Rights Day, in Paris, March 8, 2024. © Dimitar Dilkoff, AFP

Their slogans of “Free the hostages” were responded to by those of “Palestine will win” launched by other demonstrators.

Invectives were exchanged between the two groups, which briefly degenerated into shoving and punching between members of the pro-Israel and pro-Palestine security forces.

The police intervened to allow the departure of the procession of “We will live” activists.

“Our place was right, it had been completely legitimized by the organizers, I am saddened that French Jewish women cannot beat the streets of Paris in the same way as others,” laments Julie Arfi.

Read alsoExecutions, rapes... UN experts are alarmed by violence against women in Gaza

In Bordeaux, some 2,500 people - again, the majority women - took to the streets brandishing signs which proclaimed "Less machos, more clits", "My dog ​​understands when I tell him NO" or even "Look for zizi for better salary.

"What's great about this new generation of young people is that they dare, to speak, to denounce, to act. We feel that the tide is turning, that there is no turning back, that the boys too "are involved in this feminist fight", rejoices Carole, 35 years old and a school teacher, pointing to a group of men who have come to demonstrate.

Several Palestinian flags flew above the crowd and on a large banner at the head of the procession, the inscription: "From Gaza to Gironde, with or without papers, we keep society going."

A thousand demonstrators met in Lille, where the Planned Parenthood premises were sprayed on Friday, for the second time this week.

The tag “IVG = death” has been deleted, AFP noted.

Pauline, 23, student, demonstrates “for women in countries at war, Afghans, Palestinians”.

“We have a lot of privileges compared to other societies. In theory we are not too bad but we are not equal with men,” she told AFP.

With AFP

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