At least 160 protests are planned in towns and cities across France on Monday evening to protest over judicial failings over the killing of 11-year-old Lyhanna.
Anger has been growing in France over “unacceptable” lapses in the judicial system over the killing of the girl after it emerged that the main suspect had been repeatedly accused of sexual offences against children in the past, but the investigations had either been dropped or stalled.
Feminist organisations and those representing child sexual abuse victims have called for demos to be held on Monday evening outside local courthouses against what they say is a long-standing and systematic failure by the court system to take violence against women and children seriously.
Demos have been confirmed so far for 160 locations including Abbeville, Libourne, Saint-Étienne, Nanterre, Bordeaux, Dijon, Brest, Nantes, Aix-en-Provence and Paris, mostly starting between 6pm and 7pm.
Speaking to France Info, Anne-Cécile Mailfert, president of the Fondation des femmes, pointed out that 94 percent of rape complaints are dismissed.
She said: “It is not a societal change we need, but a political one. Society has moved on. People have opened their eyes. But we are faced with a political system that refuses to act and which, as a result, protects the perpetrators.
“There are now three times as many complaints of sexual violence in our country as there were before 2017. Today, women and children are speaking out,” she said, adding that France has failed to organise itself to deal with the flood of cases, due to a lack of political and institutional will.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin apologised on the evening news to the French public for what he called a “huge failure”.
“The judicial system failed to protect this little girl,” he said, adding that he has required French magistrates to review all 70,000 outstanding complaints of child sexual abuse by July 14th.
Darmanin ruled out resigning over the failures.
President Emmanuel Macron added: “It is clear that there has been a dysfunction. It’s unacceptable.”
Over the weekend, Lyhanna’s family and neighbours gathered for a silent march in her memory in their hometown of Fleurance, near Toulouse in south-west France.
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