Topless Activists Beaten by Mob for Disturbing a Conference on 'Women's Role'

NEW DELHI: Two Femen protesters received a merciless drubbing by 20-25 odd men when they dared to storm the stage of a Muslim conference-- topless. The women, 25 and 31, were arrested by the police later on for trying to sabotage the conference.

The incident happened during an allegedly controversial conference which was being held in Paris by Muslim hardliners, on the “role of women”. According to the Femen leader, Inna Shevchenko, the women made a dash to the stage and took the mikes. She alleged that two speakers were discussing “whether wives should be beaten or not”. The activists were among the audience wearing burqas which they discarded, and went on stage topless.

One of the women bore the slogan “I am my own prophet” on her torso, while the other woman’s upper half was inked in “No one subjugates me.”



The video of the storming in of the women shows what followed when they started voicing their views in Arabic and in French. They were, within a matter of seconds, dragged out of view, as one of them explicitly received kicks and punches in the free-fall which ensued.

Shevchenko further told the media that the audience jeered at the women and called them “dirty whores” and threatened to “kill them”. During the conference, the traditional roles of women were being discussed by the speakers and they praised the feminine aspects of women which they said can be found in cooking and shopping for the household.

Femen is a Ukrainian feminist group and is based in Paris. Its activists are famous for taking out rallies and flash-mobs against acts of sexism and sex-tourism prevalent in Europe’s many countries.