Equality campaigners have accused Emmanuel Macron of betraying his promise to stamp out violence against women and girls after the French government kept in place a new minister accused of rape by two women, reports The Guardian.
Feminist groups led by the Observatory of Sexist and Sexual Violence in Politics organised a street demonstration in Paris on Tuesday against what they called a “government of shame”, after Damien Abad, the minister for solidarity and people with disabilities, remained in his job despite the rape allegations.
Abad has denied the accusations, including one from a woman who said that in 2010 she blacked out after accepting a glass of champagne from him and woke up in her underwear in a hotel room with him. Abad said his disability – arthrogryposis, a rare condition that affects the joints – meant he was incapable of sexual assault.
The government spokesperson Olivia Grégoire said on Tuesday combating violence against women and girls would be a priority for Macron’s second term, just as it was in his first. She said Abad would stay in government and it was up to the justice system to establish the truth.
But campaigners warned the majority of rape and sexual assault cases in France were dropped by prosecutors. One of the women who accused Abad had her case dropped by prosecutors, which she contested. The other had not filed an official complaint, but prosecutors are looking into the case.
Read more of this report from The Guardian here.
Read Mediapart's coverage of the case here.