A suspect has been arrested after footage of the alleged attempted rape of a woman on a train near Paris went viral, local media say.
Jordana Dias, a 26-year-old Brazilian national, was allegedly assaulted earlier this month. She told Le Parisien newspaper that the man boarded the train, pushed her and tried to pull down her underwear.
Alerted by her screams, another passenger pulled out her phone to film. The footage shows a man running away as the train pulls into a station.
This incident has re-opened the discussion of women’s safety in France.
Traffic police arrested a man Friday evening in Monts-la-Jolie, northwest of Paris, according to French media. Investigators discovered him there, but it’s unclear how.
He had no identification documents at the time of his arrest, but told police he was a 26-year-old Egyptian citizen, according to media reports. He remains in custody.
The alleged incident took place on October 15 between Choisy-le-Roi and Villeneuve-le-Roi train stations in the south-east of Paris.
In the video, a man wearing a black tracksuit and cap is seen boarding the train.
Over the sound of the woman crying, the woman filming can be heard saying “you stay there” as the man is seen approaching her.
The train then pulls into a station and the man gets off and runs down the platform.
The woman who filmed the incident, named in French media only as Marguerite, is widely credited with saving Ms Dias from a more serious attack.
Ms Dias, who does not speak French, filed a complaint with police in Choisy-le-Roi with the help of her brother, who translated her testimony.
The footage has been widely circulated on news channels and social media. prompting several women to share their experiences of harassment on public transport in France.
Two more women then told Le Parisien that they had been victims of the same man.
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