Marie Laguerre was punched by a man who she told to shut up after he whistled at her in the street

French politicians have rallied in support of a woman who was hit by a man when she stood up to him after he harassed her in the street, calling the attack “unacceptable”, “revolting” and “intolerable behaviour”.

“Total solidarity! Thank you Marie Laguerre for your courage! Stop harassment!” Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, wrote in response to a tweet by the victim of the attack, 22-year-old architecture student Marie Laguerre.

Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) Solidarité totale! Merci Marie Laguerre pour votre courage! Stop au harcèlement! https://t.co/7Tkd74mEUB

CCTV footage of the event, shared online by Laguerre, shows her walking near a cafe in Paris when a man says something to her. There is no audio of the interaction, but Laguerre alleges he made “dirty noises, comments and whistled”, to which she responded by saying “Ta gueule!” or “Shut up”.

After they parted, the video shows the man turning and throwing an ashtray at Laguerre, which narrowly misses her. He then walks purposefully toward her and hits her in the head so that she stumbles and falls against the glass barrier of a cafe terrace.

The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an inquiry into the incident, but so far the attacker has not been identified.

Other French politicians rallied in support of Laguerre. Marlène Schiappa, the French equalities minister, wrote on Twitter: “It is not acceptable that in France, in 2018, women are hit in the street because they refuse to be insulted when they walk. It is a fundamental issue of liberty.”

Schiappa, who succeeded in getting the Assemblée Nationale to pass legislation in May introducing fines for sexual harassment on the street and public transport, also commended Laguerre, calling her “courageous”.

Alexandra Cordebard, mayor of Paris’ 10th arrondissement, wrote “All my support to Marie Laguerre ... Unfortunately what she has experienced is far too common, it is revolting.”

🇫🇷 MarleneSchiappa (@MarleneSchiappa) « Il n’est pas tolérable qu’en France, en 2018, des femmes soient frappées dans la rue parce qu’elles refusent d’être insultées quand elles marchent. C’est un enjeu fondamental de liberté. C’est pourquoi combattre le harcèlement de rue est une priorité. » #BFMTV pic.twitter.com/DVcUCyJ3k1

Alain Auzet, mayor of Réau just south of Paris, wrote that “it is time for men, especially elected officials, to condemn with the greatest firmness the intolerable behaviours of some.”



Politicians shared these posts using various hashtags, among them #BalanceTonPorc, or “rat on your pig”, the French version of #MeToo.

Under the same hashtag women living in France shared Laguerre’s story online, many saying that her experience was all too common in the country.

Laura Hulley, who works for the British embassy in Paris, wrote that she was assaulted in the street in Paris was last month. She said that one of her friends, British broadcast and web journalist Catherine Bennett, “was literally punched when she stood up to her aggressor”.

Bennett wrote of the attack on Laguerre: “Not for the first, nor the last time it happens to a woman on the street (in the middle of the day, moreover). And men ask me why I say that I am afraid of them.”