Three Femen women held in Arab world's first topless protest

[Soumitra]

Three Femen women held in Arab world's first topless protest

TUNIS: Three young European women with topless protest group Femen were arrested Wednesday after baring their breasts in Tunis, a first in the Arab world that sparked scuffles outside the Tunisian capital's main courthouse.

The Femen movement, founded in Ukraine and now based in Paris, has flourished since 2010, with feminists around the world stripping off in protest at a wide range of issues linked to the mistreatment of women, but also against dictatorship.

Standing on a wall in front of the railings outside the courthouse, the women, two French and the other German, shouted, "Free Amina," in support of a young Tunisian woman detained while protesting against hardline Islamists and awaiting trial on Thursday.

"Breast Feed Revolution" read graffiti on the women, who wore only denim micro shorts and black shoes, and "Femen Extremist" was daubed on their backs.

The police swiftly arrested them and took them inside the building, before a crowd of journalists.

The Femen protest, also intended to highlight the difficulties facing women in socially conservative Tunisia, provoked the anger of onlookers, some of who tried to cover up the women.

A group of lawyers linked to the hostile crowd attacked some of the journalists, accusing them of giving a platform to the topless activists.

As the young women were being transferred from one office to another within the court building, the lawyers sang the Tunisian national anthem and shouted "Get out!" a rallying cry during the January 2011 revolution that ignited the Arab Spring.

"An inquiry has been opened and they will be placed under arrest and brought to trial," justice ministry spokesman Adel Riahi told AFP, without specifying what the women might be charged with.

Indecency in Tunisia is punishable by six months in jail.

The French consul in Tunisia, Martine Gambard-Trebucien, told reporters she had met the women held by police and that they were "fine."

After the scuffles outside the courthouse, police intervened and arrested six French and Tunisian journalists, including from Reuters news agency and France's Canal+ television.

They were later released after giving statements to the police about the controversial protest.

"It is the first action that we have taken in the Arab world... I prepared this international team in Paris and they were sent yesterday (Tuesday) to Tunis," Femen's leader in Paris, Inna Shevchenko, told AFP by phone.

"These (Arab-Muslim) countries and these totalitarian regimes prey on women. We don't take any notice of this kind," she added, referring to the protesters' risk of being jailed.

An 18-year-old Tunisian known by her pseudonym Amina Tyler was arrested in the city of Kairouan on May 19, the day that Salafist movement Ansar al-Sharia planned to hold an illegal congress there, after painting the word "Femen" on a wall near a cemetery.

She faces a pepper spray charge which carries a maximum prison sentence of six months.

An investigating magistrate is also considering pressing a charge of desecrating a cemetery, punishable by up to two years in jail.

Amina sparked both scandal and a wave of online support after she was threatened by Tunisia's increasingly active hardline Islamists for posting topless pictures of herself on Facebook.

Her family said that she suffered from chronic depression and had suicidal tendencies, and they prevented her from going out, claiming her safety was at risk.

But Amina, who accused her relatives of holding her in captivity and beating her, ran away from home in April and has regularly appeared in public since, although never topless.

Tunisia, whose ruling coalition is headed by Islamist party Ennahda, has the most liberal laws in the Arab world governing women's rights, although gender equality has yet to be inscribed in the new constitution.

Secular opposition parties and feminist groups frequently accuse Ennahda of seeking to roll back women's rights, although the Islamist party has opposed enshrining Islamic sharia law in the constitution.

But a failed attempt last year to introduce the concept of gender "complementarity" rather than equality into the draft text raised serious doubts about the party's real intentions.

Three Femen women held in Arab world's first topless protest - The Times of India

 

[Aslan]

Just because you have a european passport dont mean that you just go around the world break all the laws in the book, and then expect the countries to just let you go free. Cant these people respect others cultures at all.

 

[Hashshāshīn]

Going around topless doesn't promote women's rights, it makes them further objectified.

 

[airmarshal]

I dont know whats the problem with Western countries, why dont they leave Arab or Muslim countries alone. People in the West have too many problems to deal with.

Better have this bare breast show in your own countries. Does baring makes women any more dignified? I dont think so.

 

[livingdead]

I dont know whats the problem with Western countries, why dont they leave Arab or Muslim countries alone. People in the West have too many problems to deal with.

Better have this bare breast show in your own countries. Does baring makes women any more dignified? I dont think so.

you know the difference between 'country' and 'individuals' right? Do you think it was sponsored by some govt?

 

[somebozo]

This is not the first..anyone recall Egyptian blogger Aliaa Elmahdy

 

[airmarshal]

you know the difference between 'country' and 'individuals' right? Do you think it was sponsored by some govt?

Their 'individuals' self declared right to bring the Muslim world in line with the values of the West. Same with the press here and so called human rights orgs.

 

[Imran Khan]

pics please

 

[Ozturk10]

Come clean. How many of of you opened the thread hoping there were pictures?

 

[livingdead]

Their 'individuals' self declared right to bring the Muslim world in line with the values of the West. Same with the press here and so called human rights orgs.

right, so may be you should have said 'whats wrong with western people' instead of countries, because no govt is sponsoring it. If human right orgs work to improve human rights in muslim countries, same orgs also pressurise western countries to free terrorists and other criminals.

 

[airmarshal]

right, so may be you should have said 'whats wrong with western people' instead of countries, because no govt is sponsoring it. If human right orgs work to improve human rights in muslim countries, same orgs also pressurise western countries to free terrorists and other criminals.

Sorry my mistake.

The difference with human rights orgs working in west and muslim countries is that their reports on muslim countries become reason for sanctions and invasion. That does not happen to any western country. There is a lot of discrimination and double standards.

 

[livingdead]

Sorry my mistake.

The difference with human rights orgs working in west and muslim countries is that their reports on muslim countries become reason for sanctions and invasion. That does not happen to any western country. There is a lot of discrimination and double standards.

think from a neutral point of view. Say you work for amnesty international. Will you stop yourself from publishing a well researched report on a country just because it could be used in wrong way?

 

[Last Hope]

First,
If Femen ask for equal women rights, then this should be encouraged. Women deserve their rights to be granted. No one, not even their husband, have the right to take away the rights.

Second,
The idea of asking for rights is ridiculous. Being topless and protesting will not give them the rights they ask for, but serve as eye-candy and time-pass for many men. They want to be topless because men could be. Going by their own logic, men should be allowed to treat women equally in a fight rather than respecting the lady.

When human civilization gained progress, the naked people started to cover up first by leaves, then animal skins and as they became civilized, clothes were invented and human race was getting civilized. Now the process seems to reverse, and people wish to stay in stone age.

There is still human race in existence, but civilization is washing away...

 

[livingdead]

First,
If Femen ask for equal women rights, then this should be encouraged. Women deserve their rights to be granted. No one, not even their husband, have the right to take away the rights.

Second,
The idea of asking for rights is ridiculous. Being topless and protesting will not give them the rights they ask for, but serve as eye-candy and time-pass for many men. They want to be topless because men could be. Going by their own logic, men should be allowed to treat women equally in a fight rather than respecting the lady.

When human civilization gained progress, the naked people started to cover up first by leaves, then animal skins and as they became civilized, clothes were invented and human race was getting civilized. Now the process seems to reverse, and people wish to stay in stone age.

There is still human race in existence, but civilization is washing away...

dear chairman, they are not asking for equal right to bare breast. They are using shock tactics to attract attension. Now you might argue they want to draw attention to themselves not to the cause(gender equality).
Such tactics have been used by ***** riots (to talk about russian regime). 'Vagina monologues' is another one which forces you to sit up and take notice.

Slut walk is another such effort. Many of us are used to gay pride parades now, but seems it does carry shock value in some countries still.

 

[Aslan]

you know the difference between 'country' and 'individuals' right? Do you think it was sponsored by some govt?

You are right, but you know where the problem is my friend. Their govs will now come running to the rescue of their citizens. Hay they broke the law as an individual, then let them rot in the freaking cell as one, and not worry about oh a German is in distress. She was not when she wanted to parade around with her tits flashing. I bet you that these individuals wouldnt dare doing such things if they knew that oh wait, our gov is not going to bail us out.