Béziers train poster: French court clears controversial ad Published duration 21 November 2018

image copyright Getty Images image caption The ad was posted months after the real-life murder of a woman in similar circumstances

A French court has ruled that posters showing a woman tied to train tracks did not promote violence against women.

The posters were put up around the town of Béziers last December to celebrate the arrival of high-speed TGV trains. They carried the caption: "With the TGV, she would have suffered less."

The ads faced a legal challenge from a number of feminist groups and criticism by France's equality minister.

But the court said they were legal, despite the questionable humour.

The posters were launched four months after 34-year-old Emilie Hallouin died when she was tied to TGV tracks by her husband and hit by a train in a murder-suicide in northern France.

Many Twitter users, including French Senator Laurence Rossignol, drew parallels between the posters and the tragic news story.

A local Socialist politician called the ads "odious".

But the far-right mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard, defended his campaign, accusing critics of "political correctness" and pointing to a history of such images in old films and cartoons.

The court in the southern city of Montpellier said the posters had been designed to provoke a reaction, and did not encourage violence against any specific group, including women.