Women in Paris are too frightened to enter so-called 'no go zones' where migrants and drug dealers have been harassing women, it has been reported.

The troubled district of Chapelle-Pajol, in the east of the French capital, is said to have become more and more dangerous for women over the past year as young African and Arab men flood the area.

An 80-year-old woman from the district claimed she was sexually assaulted walking home one night while another, 38, said the cafe below her apartment has become an exclusively male venue.

The troubled district of Chapelle-Pajol, in the east of the French capital, is said to have become more and more dangerous for women (file photo of Champs Elysees in Paris)

Some women living in the region claim they cannot leave their houses without being verbally abused by migrant men, Le Parisien reported.

One woman told the website her 12-year-old daughter has been banned from walking the streets ever since she got caught in the middle of a brawl between migrants.

Dozens of women turned out in Paris to protest against the so-called 'no go zones' last week.

'The problems in the area are real,' Clare Rougy, one of the demonstrators, told The Local.

She went on: 'It is aggressive and you see men fighting in the streets. Women do not feel safe.'

The women include 50-year-old Natalie, who has been living in the area for 30 years.

She told Le Parisien: 'The atmosphere is agonising, to the point of having to modify our itinerary, our clothes. Some even gave up going out.'

Meanwhile Aurélie, 38, whose local cafe has become a 'men only' venue, said: 'I have to listen to a lot of remarks when I pass in front, especially since they drink a lot.'

An 80-year-old woman from the district claimed she was sexually assaulted walking home one night (file photo of central Paris)

Meanwhile Babette de Rozieres, candidate for the right-wing Republicans party, told the crowd how her home district has 'gone downhill'.

SOS La Chapelle, who organised the protest, launched an online petition urging Paris authorities to highlight the harassment, drug-dealing and crime plaguing the area. It has so far been signed by more than 18,000 people.

The city's mayor Anne Hidalgo has acknowledged the problem, saying: 'We will not tolerate an area being prey to acts of discrimination against women.

'That does not correspond to the values of Paris nor of the Republic. I wish to inform local residents that we are entirely at their side and that our action will not falter until the situation returns to normal.'