The organizers of the protest against the opening of the PMA to all women claim the figure of 600,000 participants in Paris "come to defend the rights of the child." According to an independent count, the day gathered 74,500 people. The police advance the number of 42,000 protesters.
Seven years after the mobilizations against the marriage for all, the opponents to the opening of the PMA to all the women parade, at the moment, in the streets of Paris against this measure carried by the government and currently debated in the Parliament.
The organizers claim the figure of 600,000 participants in Paris " come to defend the rights of the child ." According to the independent counting agency Occurrence , the march brought together 74,500 people. "Our goal is the removal of the fatherless PMA. Our mobilization is announced in the long term, " says Ludovine de la Rochere.
According to the police, the demonstrators were "nearly 42,000" .
#MarchonsChildren pic.twitter.com/SOU7ebMSCE
- Eric de Legge (@ Eric2Legge) October 6, 2019Waving green / red flags "Liberty Equality Paternity", several thousand people from all over France (AFP source) began walking around 13 pm from around the Gardens of Luxembourg, near the Senate, at the call of a collective of about twenty associations, including the Manif for all.
"For nearly two years, our attempts at dialogue have never been successful [...]. It remains only the street to be heard, " said the president of the Manif for all, Ludovine de la Rochere, just before the start of the event to join the Tour Montparnasse. "This demonstration is a warning to the government. Will he open the dialogue or will he remain like Hollande in 2012 in contempt? She added.
" The family with a father and a mother is an ecosystem to protect"
Between 10,000 and 20,000 participants were expected by the authorities, out of all proportion to the mobilizations of 2012-201 against the Taubira law authorizing gay marriage, which had gathered up to 340,000 people according to the police and 1.4 million according to organizers.
The Manif for all, as well as the other heavyweights of the collective, such as the Catholic Family Associations (AFC) and Alliance Vita, had however beaten the recall of the troops, with more than three million leaflets distributed, walls covered with posters for weeks, two special TGV chartered and over a hundred full coaches throughout France.
Christian Kersabiec, 68, who came by van from Vannes, refuses "this new society where we play the sorcerer's apprentices. The family with a father and a mother is an ecosystem to protect, "he says. For Laetitia, 20, " a child is a gift, it is not a right. We do not fight against homosexuals, we do not say "your life is bad", but we fight against the legalization of the PMA.
The head of the procession arrived
Around 15:30, the head of the procession arrived at Montparnasse, the end of the demonstration, while the rear of the parade had not yet left the edge of the Luxembourg Gardens.
This event takes place in calm and good mood, despite the rain that falls right now. At the heart of the procession, we can meet several political leaders, including Stéphane Ravier, Jean-Lin Lacapelle and Nicolas Bay (National Rally), or Agnes Thill, MP excluded from En Marche for dissent.
On the side of LR, Guillaume Larrivé, deputy LR of the Yonne and candidate for the presidency of the Republicans, made the trip. "We do not want to wake up in a few weeks, in a few months, in a transhumanist world ," he says. Julien Aubert, deputy of Vaucluse and also candidate for the leadership of the party, is also present. For his part, Christian Jacob, who is the favorite of the poll, announced that he would not protest, while displaying his opposition to an enlargement of the PMA. Among the demonstrators, we also note the presence of François-Xavier Bellamy, MEP LR.
fears
Many demonstrators claim to lead an "ecological fight" by opposing the PMA. "We are told to respect nature, which is organic, but for humans, it feels like everything is allowed," says Patrick, 53, a senior executive in the pharmaceutical industry. Many also fear that the opening of the PMA will lead to the legalization of the GPA, which the government has always called absolute prohibition and excluded from the bill.
The LGBT associations fear that this mobilization will revive the homophobic acts, which had jumped in France in 2013. On Twitter, several homoparental families have published photos of their children, under the hashtag #despaillettesdnnosvies.
Share this article
Demonstration against "the fatherless PMA": 74,500 people in Paris, according to an independent countOuest-France.frENLARGE
