A shocking video from the streets of Paris has caused uproar all over France, with demands for stringent laws against street harassment.
The footage of a man punching a woman in the face near a street café in Paris when she told him off for harassing her has triggered a debate around women’s safety after it was posted online by the victim, 22-year-old architecture student Marie Laguerre.
She later told Le Parisien that he had harassed her repeatedly, with sexually suggestive behaviour. “I turned to him and everything went extremely fast, but then I knew he was going to hit me. I was even ready to fight. When the blow came, I took it without showing any emotion. He continued to scream,” Laguerre said.
Speaking on France’s BFM Television, Marlène Schiappa, France’s gender equality minister, said such behaviour with women was “intolerable.”
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also tweeted her support.
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