Residents and tourists of a picturesque town in the south of France flocked to a demonstration in support of a woman facing legal proceedings after walking the streets topless from the waist down without clothing.
The woman, identified as Marina, was accused by police of sexual exhibitionism but says she went topless in the town of Aurillac, in the Cantal region, simply because it was hot, arguing that men have the right to do the same doing. The facts took place at the height of the heat wave felt in Europe.
About 1,000 people, many of them stripped to their waists, marched through the city on Saturday to show their solidarity with the woman, chanting “topless Aurillac”. Both men and women showed their bare breasts, with the phrase “what’s the difference?” written on the skin.
FLASH – A woman is ready for a sexual exhibition après-s’être promenade in Aurillac.
Feeling that men would not get T-shirts, Marina was awarded an award for the initiative of giving their lives.
A manifestation is s’en est suivie. pic.twitter.com/iIj7xh7yA7
– AlertesInfos (@AlertesInfos) August 26, 2023
Organizing feminist activities or organizing topless women. Contact Aurillac, the French flag and the podpalają. Bo w tym mieście feministka dostała mandate za exshibicjonizm.pic.twitter.com/QPDxbo9mii
– Nathaniel Garstecka (@NatGarstecka) August 28, 2023
It all happened last Wednesday, when the town was packed with tourists during Aurillac’s annual street theater festival, which draws thousands each summer.
Marina explained her choice to the local press on Thursday, saying it was very hot and she wanted to do as “half the men” did that day, “who were shirtless”.
She was eventually fined by police officers for refusing to cover her upper body.
Saturday’s demonstration began peacefully, but then degenerated as some protesters burned French flags outside the city’s courthouse, and some stormed in and started fires, officials said.
Peace returned after Frederic Remy, artistic director of Eclat, the association that organizes the street theater festival, and the city’s socialist mayor, Pierre Mathonier, addressed the crowd.
Mathonier said he supported the woman’s cause, but expressed his displeasure at the damage some protesters had caused.
“Equality between men and women is a principle that should allow equal treatment of men’s breasts and also of women’s breasts”, The mayor said this in statements to BFM TV on Monday.
However, he added that “the looting of the court is inadmissible, it damages the image of the Republic and the party”.
Sunbathing topless on a beach in France is not legally considered sexual exhibitionism, although it has become less popular in recent years.
In the summer of 2020, controversy erupted when a group of women were the subject of a complaint for showing their breasts on the beach.
Source: DN
