The occupation of Saint-Nizier Church by Lyon prostitutes refers to the ten-day

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

Saint-Nizier Church The Church of Saint-Nizier (French: ''Église Saint-Nizier'') is a church in the Presqu'île district of Lyon, France, in the 2nd arrondissement, between the Place des Terreaux and the Place des Jacobins. Its name refers to Nicetius of Lyon, a b ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

by more than a hundred prostitutes on 2 June 1975 to draw attention to their "inhumane" working conditions. The occupation lasted eight days until the women were removed by the police on 10 June. Sympathetic occupations of churches by prostitutes followed in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, Saint-Étienne and Montpellier.

Background

In the 1970s, French police kept prostitutes under increasing pressure. The police reprisals forced prostitutes to work increasingly in secret. As a result, protection of prostitutes decreased and led to more violence against them. In April 1975, the Lyon prostitutes started to organise themselves and their leader, "Ulla" appeared on television to publicise the women's demands. After three murders and the unwillingness of the government to improve the situation, prostitutes in Lyon took action.

Occupation

On 2 June 1975 more than 100 prostitutes occupied the Saint-Nizier church in rue de Brest and went on strike. They demanded the end of fines, police harassment and the release from jail of ten of them who had been imprison a few days earlier for

soliciting Solicitation is the act of offering, or attempting to purchase, goods and/or services. Legal status may be specific to the time or place where it occurs. The crime of "solicitation to commit a crime" occurs when a person encourages, "solicits, r ...

. The striking workers sang political chants and demanded decent working conditions and an end to stigma. The occupation made national headlines and was reported internationally. Local people supported the woman and brought clothes and food. The occupation received support from political, union and feminist organisations. Abolitionists, in the form of the ''Movement du Nid'', also supported the occupation, hoping the public awareness it raised would help end prostitution. The parish priest, the Rev. Antonin Bdal, refused to call the police to remove the women. However, acting on Government orders, the police forcibly cleared the church after eight days on 10 June. The

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Michel Poniatowski Michel Poniatowski (16 May 1922 – 15 January 2002) was a French politician, member of a legitimized line of Poland's princely Poniatowski family. He was a founder of the Independent Republicans and a part of the administration for President ...

, claimed the women had been manipulated into the occupation by pimps, and the Women rights Minister,

Françoise Giroud Françoise Giroud, born Lea France Gourdji (21 September 1916 in Lausanne, Switzerland and not in Geneva as often written – 19 January 2003 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French journalist, screenwriter, writer, and politician. Biography Giroud ...

, refused to meet with the women and claimed she was not competent in the matter. The leader of the Movement, "Ulla", had her real name and photograph printed in the press. The event marks the starting point of an international movement for the International Day of Remembrance for Women Who Died in Prostitution.

Legacy

A journalist working for Libération, Claude Jaget, followed the occupation. In addition to his articles in Libération, he later published a book: ''Une vie de putain''. This book gathers six testimonies, from among the prostitutes who participated in the occupation of the church. In 2016, a play, ''Loveless'', written by Anne Buffet and Yann Dacosta, an adaptation of the book, ''Une vie de putain'', was enacted at the National Dramatic Center of Normandy-Rouen it was also staged in Lyon at the Théâtre des Célestins in 2018.

References

Bibliography

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In media

* ''Les prostituées de Lyon parlent'', documentary film by Carole Roussopoulos, 46 minutes, production: Video Out1, 1975 (EAN 3700301014634)
''La révolte des prostituées de Saint-Nizier''
radio documentary by Eurydice Aroney and Julie Beressi for

France Culture France Culture is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: * France Inter — Radio France's " generalist" sta ...

* {{Cite news , title=The first sex worker strike: 'We are just women and mothers' , language=en-GB , work=

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...