THOUSANDS of protesters took to the streets of Paris and other French cities on Saturday against femicide and sexual violence.

In Paris, large crowds of women and men marched waving purple placards that denounced gender-based violence and defended women’s reproductive rights.

The march expressed solidarity for Gisele Pelicot. The harrowing trial of her ex-husband and dozens of other men being prosecuted for rapes while she was drugged and unconscious has stoked anger about sexual violence in France.

“Unfortunately, anybody can be a perpetrator of violence. It can be our brothers. It can be our fathers. It can be our colleagues. It can be our bosses. I think that's the big shock for people,” said Maelle Noir, representing the feminist collective NousToutes (All of us).

“There is no typical profile of who the rapist could be and there is also no typical profile of who the victim could be,” she said.

Protest organisers demanded increased government spending to fight sexual and sexist violence and promote gender equality.

Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the French Communist Party, posted on the X social media platform that the trial “cruelly illustrates what rape culture is, it is essential to mobilise to demand a framework law against sexual and sexist violence.

“Our Republic will be social, secular and feminist!” he added.