“Break off”: Hundreds of demonstrators, mostly women, delayed access to a performance by French actor Gérard Depardieu as part of his tour “Depardieu sings Barbara” in Lille on Wednesday evening at the call of feminist collectives.
• Also read: Sexual violence on film sets: Thirteen women condemn Gérard Depardieu
The protesters, gathered outside the Sébastopol theater in central Lille, were responding to a call from various Lille feminist collectives after Médiapart recently unveiled 13 new testimonies of sexist and sexual violence allegedly committed by the actor on eleven shootings between 2004 and 2022.
AFP
Minutes before the show was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m., protesters were still blocking viewers’ access, shouting “You’re not ashamed” or “You’re funding a rapist.”
The theater then opened a new entrance while the police arrived at the scene.
“This demonstration is totally unjustified because until proven otherwise, Depardieu has not been convicted of anything, so it’s just a suspicion,” said Annick Picquet, 58, while waiting in line.
“Victim we believe you, aggressor we see you,” chanted the demonstrators in particular.
AFP
“We have the opportunity to demonstrate against the impunity of people who have long considered it normal to abuse women at work and who risked absolutely nothing,” said a protester, Isabelle Loriot, 60, a history professor for AFP and political education “We find it indecent that Gérard Depardieu is there, that he sings Barbara, as women and trade unionists we had to be there,” explained Victoria Saltarelli, 62, a pensioner from the state education system, holding up a sign: “The Artist is the sexual predator are the same person”.
Mediapart recently revealed that 13 women are accusing actor Gérard Depardieu of sexual violence, who is already accused of raping and sexually assaulting actress Charlotte Arnould.
AFP
The Paris prosecutor’s office told AFP on Wednesday April 12 that “so far they have not received any new complaints”. He indicated that the investigation launched in July 2020 following a complaint by an actress, Charlotte Arnould, was continuing.
The 74-year-old actor “formally denies all allegations that could fall under criminal law,” for his part told Mediapart of the law firm Temime, which is in charge of his defense.
The performance in Lille was the first since the Mediapart article, as part of a tour the actor has been making since 2017 in honor of the great late French artist Barbara.