Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across France on Saturday in response to the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, demanding sweeping legislation to tackle sexual violence. Demonstrations were held in roughly 110 cities, with organisers reporting 100,000 participants in Paris alone — a figure that police put considerably lower at around 6,400 in the capital and 10,700 nationwide. Marchers in Paris set off from the Place de la Bastille chanting slogans including "Truth emerges from the mouths of children!" and "160,000 children — what are you doing?", a reference to the estimated number of children sexually abused in France each year.

The protests were triggered by the killing of Lyhanna, an 11-year-old schoolgirl whose body was found last month in Fleurance, a small town in the Gers department of southwestern France, after she went missing on 29 May. The main suspect, a 41-year-old father of one of her classmates, had twice previously been formally accused of raping a child, but both investigations had been dropped or had stalled. The case has exposed what many describe as systemic failures in France's justice system: a 2022 government report found that in 70 percent of child abuse cases, investigators did not search a suspect's phone, camera or computer after an initial interview. Anne-Cécile Mailfert, president of the Women's Foundation, noted ahead of the marches that 94 percent of rape complaints in France are dismissed without further action.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has refused to resign despite widespread calls for him to do so, though he apologised for what he acknowledged was a "huge failure." President Emmanuel Macron has expressed concern about eroding public trust in French institutions. Prime Minister Lecornu has proposed life sentences for serial child rapists, while the minister responsible for gender equality, Aurore Bergé, said the government would convene parliamentary discussions in mid-July to shape possible legislation, with a vote promised for the autumn.

The coalition behind Saturday's marches, representing 180 associations, is pushing for a comprehensive framework law rather than what it calls "piecemeal measures dictated by the urgency of successive scandals." Their demands draw on a package of 140 measures proposed in late 2024, modelled partly on Spanish legislation. A bill incorporating 78 of those measures was subsequently tabled by socialist MP Céline Thiébault-Martinez and co-signed by around a hundred lawmakers. More than 340,000 people have signed an online petition in support. "Political inaction is becoming complicity," said Mailfert. "In practice, it ends up protecting attackers and rapists." The coalition has been holding weekly protests outside regional courts and the justice ministry in Paris since Lyhanna's death, and organisers described Saturday's turnout as "a historic mobilisation against sexual violence."

Personal testimony at the marches underlined the scale of the problem. Eline, a 17-year-old student who said she had filed a rape complaint this year, described being discouraged by the police officer who took her statement. "He told me it wasn't rape, that it could ruin this man's life, and he made me feel guilty," she said. For campaigners, her account illustrates why structural reform — covering prevention, judicial handling, and victim support — is essential, and why a single high-profile case, however shocking, cannot be allowed to fade without lasting legislative change.