Thousands answer call to march against sexist violence

Tens of thousands of people have rallied across Europe against sexist violence, with more than 30,000 turning out in Paris, where a separate protest against rising fuel prices brought clashes.

Anti-violence rallies across France on Saturday drew around 50,000 people in all, according to organiser Caroline de Haas, to answer a citizen collective's call for a "feminist tidal wave" of outrage against gender violence brought into sharp focus by the #MeToo movement.

Elsewhere a thousand people braved driving rain in Rome while similar protests drew several hundred demonstrators in Geneva and Athens.

"The fight against violence against women is progressing daily but our society has a long way to go - everyone must act and fight as this is everybody's business," President Emmanuel Macron tweeted in offering his moral support.

Authorities put the Paris turnout at 12,000 and similar marches in Lyon, Marseille and Rennes at between 1,000 and 2,400, but De Haas felt moved to salute "the largest (feminist) mobilisation France has known," far bigger than a rally that drew some 2,000 last year.

Participants clad in purple, the colour of the #NousToutes women's activist protest movement, shouted slogans including "sick of rape," "end impunity for aggressors" and "a woman is never responsible for the violence she suffers," while also demanding sufficient government resources to tackle the issue.

"I am here to support all the victims and continue this struggle which started long before I came along," said French actress Muriel Robin, who had organised a similar rally last month in the capital.

The rallies drew a number of men, including Tanguy, a 19-year-old student who turned out in the western city of Rennes to declare backing for "a movement which is not based on sex - it's not a fight pitting men against women but a fight by men and women, together, against inequality."