A French far-left activist has responded to widespread criticism after footage showed her telling a woman who said she had been threatened with rape during protests in France that she was “collateral damage.”
The activist, Bettina Zourli, supports Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (LFI) party and regularly uses Instagram to share posts about feminist and pro-Palestinian causes.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Zourli studied gender studies and leads sociology workshops at Rennes 2 University in Upper Brittany.
She has also expressed support for the nationwide protest movement sweeping France. More than 500,000 people took to the streets last weekend, during which around 3,000 shops were ransacked and almost 1,000 police officers were injured.
Video of Zourli involved in a tense confrontation with a woman at the protests has since spread widely online.
During the exchange, the distressed woman told Zourli that she had been inside her apartment with her child when a protester threatened to rape her. She said the threat was made because she had tried to stop people from looting the shop below.
“It’s collateral damage,” Zourli replied.
Her remark prompted a furious reaction in France. Gabriel Attal, the Renaissance party’s presidential candidate, condemned Zourli in a post on his Instagram account, which has 40,000 followers.
Bettina Zourli supports Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (LFI) and regularly uses Instagram to post about feminist and pro-Palestinian activism
During the exchange, the distressed woman told Zourli that she had been in her apartment with her child when a protester threatened to rape her after she tried to prevent looting at the shop below
The remark triggered criticism in France, with centrist Renaissance party presidential candidate Gabriel Attal condemning Zourli on his Instagram account, which has 40,000 followers
One user commenting beneath Attal’s post wrote: “LFI must explain itself regarding its calls for violence.”
Another wrote: “We are at a loss for words to describe this attitude that is beyond comprehension.”
As criticism mounted, Zourli issued a statement on Instagram in which she said she considered sabotage and vandalism effective forms of protest.
“I understand that my statement was shocking, and I apologise in advance,” she wrote.
“It is obviously shocking to be threatened with rape. Sexist and sexual violence is still rampant in France. As a feminist activist, I know the figures…”
She added that “rape is an unjustifiable crime, which can never be legitimate”.
Addressing her use of the phrase “collateral damage”, Zourli wrote: “When I speak of collateral damage, it’s not to minimise it.”
“Collateral damage is ‘the unfortunate, indirect, and unintended consequence arising from a primary action.’ So when I tell a woman threatened with rape during the mobilisation on October 17 that this threat is collateral damage, I am saying that this rape threat has nothing to do with the mobilisation on October 17.”
Zourli also claimed that she had received “thousands of threats” since the confrontation took place and the video spread online.
While maintaining that she regrets the comment about rape, Zourli wrote that she supports vandalism and ‘material sabotage’.
‘When the Suffragettes planted bombs, when the communists of the Second World War organised guerrilla warfare and sabotage, when Palestinians sabotaged pipelines in 1936, this was resistance, not vandalism.’
Footage of Zourli in a heated dispute with a woman at the protests has circulated widely online
A graduate of gender studies, Zourli provides sociology workshops at Rennes 2 University in Upper Brittany, according to her LinkedIn profile
Responding to the backlash, Zourli posted a statement on her own Instagram, where she said she agreed with sabotage and vandalism as effective forms of protest
Businesses, cultural events and museums are closed this weekend despite curbs on demonstrations as French President Emmanuel Macron seeks to restore order a week after nationwide protests turned violent.
France’s main student union, UNEF, has called for rallies on Saturday, while the Yellow Vest movement, an anti-establishment force that emerged in 2018, filed plans this week for a march through central Paris.
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Macron was due to meet student representatives on Friday to discuss their plans but UNEF said their rallies, which grew from high school protests last month against teacher shortages and shabby facilities, would go ahead.
‘Macron is trampling upon the freedom to protest in our country, and is spitting on the values of the republic he claims to defend,’ the union said in an emailed statement.
Macron blamed ‘seditious’ ultra-Left groups for the unrest last weekend – allegations the prominent far-Left LFI party denied – and said on Thursday that ‘illegitimate’ protests would be banned in coming days.
Demonstrations organised by groups such as trade unions would be allowed to proceed but could be diverted along alternative routes, he said.
Marylise Leon, the general secretary of the CFDT, one of the nation’s largest trade unions, said the measure would do little to restore calm, adding that it would be better for the government to make concrete proposals to address people’s anger.
‘It’s counterproductive because there is a lot of anger, a lot of anger and a demand to be considered and to be listened to,’ she told French broadcaster TF1. ‘It’s not for the president to decide who can legitimately request to protest.’
Workers, students and others are protesting budget cuts and calling for higher wages to help people meet high living costs.
The government says it understands their concerns but needs to keep spending in check to contain rising borrowing costs.
Soaring energy costs, pressure on household budgets and concerns over deteriorating public services have fuelled unrest among workers and younger voters, but the French government has little spare cash to address concerns.
The risk premium on French government debt over German bonds widened to its highest level in 15 years on Thursday, highlighting investor unease.
A man throws a plastic traffic cone through a burning barricade amid clashes during a day of demonstrations against the cost of living and rising fuel prices in Paris, on October 17
Police officers in riot gear stand guard during civil unrest, the day after a national day of demonstrations against the cost of living and rising fuel prices, in Paris, on October 18
A woman on a Lime bike rides past a burning barricade near the Tuileries Garden, with the Eiffel tower in the background, amid clashes during a day of demonstrations, October 17
A protester throws a rental bicycle onto a burning car, October 17
A raging fire destroys the city hall in Limoges, central France on October 17, after a group of individuals forced entry into the building
Rivals from the centre-Left to the hard-Right have turned on Melenchon’s and his LFI party, accusing them of fuelling France’s worst civil unrest in years.
Melenchon, who launched his fourth presidential bid in May and remains the hard-Left’s strongest hope of reaching next year’s election run-off, has faced mounting criticism since unrest engulfed several French cities, with opponents saying years of confrontational rhetoric helped fuel tensions now spilling onto the streets.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu sharpened those attacks on Tuesday, telling an LFI lawmaker that the party’s ‘political agenda of instilling violence and chaos in the country was now on full display’.
The 75-year-old leader has rejected suggestions that LFI bears responsibility for the unrest, accusing the government instead of failing to address deep-rooted social and economic grievances in France’s poorer suburbs.
But criticism has come from across the political spectrum.
Gerard Larcher, the president of the Senate, told Le Figaro this week it was worth considering whether LFI should be banned, a suggestion decried as ‘authoritarian’ by LFI.
Laurent Jacobelli, a spokesperson for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), blamed ‘the ultra-Left, including France Unbowed (LFI)’, as well as what he called uncontrolled immigration, for creating a revolutionary climate.
Marc Fesneau, of centrist party MoDem, said Melenchon had long promoted the idea that ‘everything must be a battleground’.
‘When you turn everything into a confrontation, you run serious risks,’ Fesneau told Reuters.
The attacks underscore both Melenchon’s central place in French politics and the unease he provokes as the country heads toward a presidential election expected to pit increasingly strong anti-establishment forces against a weakened political centre.
The unrest has reinforced that contrast, shifting scrutiny onto the hard Left while allowing Le Pen to strike a more presidential tone on law and order, an issue that traditionally favours the hard-Right.
Yet with France’s political landscape fragmented into three rival blocs and traditional centre-Left and centre-Right parties struggling, analysts say Melenchon remains a formidable political force.