PARIS: French authorities have detained two men on suspicion of taking part in an alleged gang rape of a Mexican tourist in the Champ de Mars park, which lies at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in central Paris, prosecutors said Friday.
The men were detained on Thursday in an ongoing investigation into the suspected rape of the woman, Paris prosecutors said.
The Le Parisien daily, which first reported the incident, said that the 27-year-old woman was attacked by five men, meaning that three suspects were still at large. This has not been confirmed by prosecutors.
The Champ de Mars is a large park extending from the Eiffel Tower which is hugely popular with tourists and locals.
It will be a key site during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris when beach volleyball is to be held at the foot of the Eiffel Tower and judo and wrestling at the temporary Arena Champ de Mars at the other end of the park.
Unlike most Paris parks which close during the night, the Champ de Mars can be accessed round-the-clock.
The reported rape revived pressure on Paris’s Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo to close the park at night for safety reasons.
“How many sexual assaults and rapes does Anne Hidalgo expect there to be before she agrees to close the Champ de Mars at night so that Parisians and tourists are safe?” said Rachida Dati right-wing mayor of Paris 7th district where the park is located arrondissement, on Twitter which is being rebranded as X.
Two arrested over suspected rape of tourist in Paris park: prosecutors
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Two arrested over suspected rape of tourist in Paris park: prosecutors
- The 27-year-old woman was attacked by five men, meaning that three suspects were still at large
- The Champ de Mars is a large park extending from the Eiffel Tower which is hugely popular with tourists and locals
Russia says foreign forces in Ukraine would be ‘legitimate targets’
- Moscow has repeatedly said it will not tolerate the presence in Ukraine of troops from Western countries
MOSCOW: Russia would regard the deployment of any foreign military forces or infrastructure in Ukraine as foreign intervention and treat those forces as legitimate targets, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday, citing Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The ministry’s comment, one of many it said were in response to questions put to Lavrov, also praised US President Donald Trump’s efforts at working for a resolution of the war and said he understood the fundamental reasons behind the conflict.
“The deployment of military units, facilities, warehouses, and other infrastructure of Western countries in Ukraine is unacceptable to us and will be regarded as foreign intervention posing a direct threat to Russia’s security,” the ministry said on its website.
It said Western countries — which have discussed a possible deployment to Ukraine to help secure any peace deal — had to understand “that all foreign military contingents, including German ones, if deployed in Ukraine, will become legitimate targets for the Russian Armed Forces.”
The United States has spearheaded efforts to hold talks aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine and a second three-sided meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives is to take place this week in the United Arab Emirates.
The issue of ceding internationally recognized Ukrainian territory to Russia remains a major stumbling block. Kyiv rejects Russian calls for it to give up all of its Donbas region, including territory Moscow’s forces have not captured.
Moscow has repeatedly said it will not tolerate the presence in Ukraine of troops from Western countries.
The ministry said Moscow valued the “purposeful efforts” of the Trump administration in working toward a resolution and understanding Russia’s long-running concerns about NATO’s eastward expansion and its overtures to Ukraine.
It described Trump as “one of the few Western politicians who not only immediately refused to advance meaningless and destructive preconditions for starting a substantive dialogue with Moscow on the Ukrainian crisis, but also publicly spoke about its root causes.”
