PARIS (AP) — Filmmaker Roman Polanski has abandoned plans to preside over the French equivalent of the Oscars, after protests from France's women's rights minister and feminist groups prompted by decades-old U.S. sex charges against him. "Deeply saddened" by the renewed criticism, Polanski decided not to lead the Feb. 24 Cesars Awards "so as not to disrupt the Cesars ceremony, which should be devoted to cinema and not to the designation of its president," according to a statement from Polanski's lawyer Herve Temime. Activist groups called for protests outside the ceremony, with an online campaign accusing Polanski of being a "criminal who drugged and raped a 13-year-old child and escaped justice."