"Better than nothing but far from it": the flyer against street harassment is not unanimous

This summer, police and gendarmes will be in train stations, public transport and on public roads to... distribute flyers. Beyond their surveillance mission, these agents are responsible since Tuesday to distribute 5 million flyers throughout the France explaining "How to act" if one is a victim or witness of harassment or assault.

The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, had unveiled on May 15 the visual of these prospectuses. Among the tips for victims in case of aggression: "Make noise and alert the people around you; seek help and try to take shelter in a safe place (...). After the assault, file a complaint in a gendarmerie brigade, a police station or any other suitable place."

Major operation on the safety of women in public 👇

👉spaces 5 million flyers distributed from May 30 and throughout the summer by police and gendarmes.
👉everywhere in France, during patrols on public transport, on the street, etc.
👉for... pic.twitter.com/ldz0DCrWFL

— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) May 15, 2023

The operation launched on Tuesday under the leadership of the Paris police prefecture will see 1 million flyers distributed in the capital and the inner suburbs by the end of the summer.

Despite the development of patrols in transport, "there remains a feeling of insecurity among women," acknowledged the prefect of police of Paris Laurent Nuñez. For Loubna Atta, spokesperson for the prefecture of police, "this flyer serves as a reminder of good practices. It also targets both women and men."

"Better than nothing at all" but "very far from the account"

For feminist associations, this is still too low, and in particular takes up an operation already carried out by the RATP with the Women's Foundation. Sandrine Bouchait, president of the National Union of Families of Femicides, fell from the clouds to discover this project that she considers out of step with reality.

"I wondered if it wasn't a joke. There were three femicides last week. We are told that to protect women, we will distribute flyers. I imagine that they will make a big ball, to throw them at the aggressors. On a misunderstanding, it could repel them! " she reacts wryly, stressing, however, the value of educating witnesses.

VIDEO. When women try to protect themselves from harassment on the subway with a shirt

"It's necessarily better than nothing at all, but we are very, very far from it," denounced for her part on France Bleu Violaine de Filippis, lawyer and spokesperson for the association Osez le féminisme. "These flyers will be distributed by police officers who are, most of the time, not trained in violence against women," she said.