6.15 p.m. - Place des Ternes, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, the crowd begins to grow. Without being able to cross the roadblocks of the police, they are some 200 demonstrators to have gathered here, ten minutes walk from the Salle Pleyel where the 45th César evening will open in two hours.
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" Aggressor we see you ", " victim we believe you ", " rewards to those who deserve it " ... In front of a banner of the association Dare feminism, they proudly hold their placards, whose slogans are addressed to Roman Polanski, at the heart of a sexual assault controversy. But also to the Academy of Caesar "too complacent" and to the French film industry, undermined by similar affairs.
"In solidarity with our sisters attacked by rapists, even if Polanski does not come, we are there" , intonate the demonstrators, gathered under banners of black ravens on which are inscribed the names of Roman Polanski, Harvey Weinstein and Luc Besson.
It's jostling in front of the Pleyel room. Activists crack smoke bombs. The police are trying as best they can to contain the demonstrators with tear gas canisters and to avoid overflowing with the help of barriers.
The director of J'accuse , a feature film on the Dreyfus affair named in twelve categories including "best film" and "best director", is the big absent from this ceremony. Thursday, the filmmaker informed AFP that he would not be present for this 2020 edition in order to avoid a "public lynching" .
Friday in the early afternoon, it is the producer of his film, Alain Goldman, who announced in turn that the entire team of the feature film will not attend the César ceremony, regretting "An escalation of inappropriate and violent language and behavior" .
Jean Dujardin, interpreter of Colonel Picquart and named in the “best actor” category, published a photo of the shooting of Roman Polanski's film on Instagram. “I would just like to remind you that J'accuse is the title of a fairly famous article by Émile Zola, I hope that does not bother anyone. Have a good evening, ” he posted on the social network.