Outcry against Macron's protection of minister accused of rape

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French President Emmanuel Macron has been accused by equality campaigners of not keeping his promise to stop violence against women and girls after the government kept a new minister accused of rape by two women.

The Observatory of Sexist and Sexual Violence in Politics led feminists who organized on Tuesday a street rally in Paris against what they described as a “government of shame”, after the minister for solidarity and people with disabilities, Damien Abad, was kept in his job despite the rape accusations against him.

The allegations were published on Mediapart, an investigative website. One of the women mentioned that in 2010, she went to dinner with Abad, drank a glass of champagne, then woke up in a hotel almost naked. 

Olivia Grégoire, the government spokesperson, said on Tuesday that fighting violence against women and girls would be on top of the list for Macron’s second term. She noted that it was up to the justice system to establish the truth.

Campaigners complained that prosecutors drop the majority of rape and sexual assault cases in France, explaining that they dropped the case of one of the women who accused Abad.

Madeline da Silva, co-founder of the Observatory on Sexist and Sexual Violence in Politics, said he should not be in government.

“For the simple reason of setting an example, and sending a message to women who are victims of sexual violence, Mr Abad should not have been made a minister,” she said. “… By keeping Mr Abad, the government is not fulfilling its responsibility to protect the people who work with him.”

Da Silva cited the case of François de Rugy who quit as French environment minister during the president's first term, after he hosted lavish, taxpayer-funded lobster dinners as parliament speaker. Da Silva commented that he had not been under police investigation when he resigned, noting that her message was that “lobsters are more serious than rape”.

Earlier this month, Macron’s centrist party stood by a parliamentary candidate in Dordogne, Jérôme Peyrat who had been convicted of domestic violence, which caused outrage in the country. Peyrat was found guilty of violence against his former partner in September 2020. 

This has not stopped La République En Marche’s leader, Stanislas Guerini, from saying that Peyrat “is an honest man, I don’t think he is capable of violence against women”. Guerini later apologized and Peyrat stood down. Few days later, Guerini was appointed to government as a minister.

In 2020, Gérald Darmanin was appointed by Macron as an interior minister, drawing heavy criticism and prompting demonstrations, since Darmanin was accused of rape, abuse, and sexual harassment.  He has denied wrongdoing and prosecutors in January requested the case be dropped.