A sickening attack on a transgender woman in a Paris crosswalk near a rally against Algeria’s president has gone viral, and she’s speaking out.
The BBC reports: “Julia, 31, was set upon on Sunday as she walked up steps at the metro station in the Place de la République. A big rally was taking place in the square against Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria’s long-ruling 82-year-old president, who has since announced his resignation. Wearing a black-and-white striped blouse, Julia was blocked by protesters who taunted her in Arabic. One man ruffled her hair, while a girl draped in an Algerian flag came to try to help Julia. After the girl moved on, a man repeatedly punched Julia while another could be seen kicking at her.”
Julia spoke out about the attack to Paris media, telling Le Parisien: “One of them yelled at me, ‘you‘re a man!‘ I did not answer him and tried to pass. He shifted to block me again and said ‘I asked you a question, you answer! You will not pass!’ Another said to me ‘But you have breasts’ and touched my chest. I pushed him away and told him not to touch me. A third then exposed his penis and shook it and said that I was going to make him happy. Meanwhile, I had beer thrown on me.”
“The hardest thing is not the blows, it’s the humiliation,” she added.
She added: “The violence against this [transgender] community takes place every day. But some people won’t have the strength that I have and they’ll be destroyed by these attacks.”
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo condemned the attack, demanding that those responsible “must be identified and prosecuted.”
