Ex-FEMEN members strike back after German tabloid says ‘Nein’ to ‘greedy Greeks’
Three former FEMEN members have staged a topless protest in front of the offices of German newspaper Bild in Berlin. The topless ladies say they’re out over the newspaper’s recent message of “no more billions for the greedy Greeks.”
The ladies were out Friday morning because staff with the “racist” Bild-Zeitung earlier took selfies holding up the sign with the word ‘No’ to protest the possibility of a new package offered to a debt-stricken Greece.
On Thursday, Germany’s biggest-selling daily lashed out at plans to give the Greeks an extension, and urged readers to email it with selfies including the word Nein’,‘which also adorned the paper’s headline: 'NO! No more billions for the greedy Greeks!'
It also alluded in the text to earlier promises by Greece to repay the loan with high interest, and how “no one believes it anymore!”
Ich sage #NEIN zur Hetze gegen Griechenland - nur Verhandlungen bringen uns weiter. pic.twitter.com/Ie3nGV3Zya
— Maximilian Schmidt (@maxschmidt) February 26, 2015
The Europeans didn’t take too kindly to the message. There were calls among those who disagreed with Bild to start their own ‘Nein’ campaign, with some tweeting accordingly. Many Germans have taken the Greek side.
In etwa so, @BILD? pic.twitter.com/aLNnId9s5V
— Thommy Gunz (@sechsdreinuller) February 26, 2015
As for the ex-FEMEN members, their response to Bild was “Ja, Ja!” the words scrawled across their bodies in blue paint, while some passersby and press snapped away.
The whole exercise that involved a happy dance was quite harmless and with police standing by without interfering.
The activists stressed that this was the first protest of this kind without the FEMEN label – they claim no longer to be members. Instead they called this an ‘Oben Ohne’ (topless) protest.
Greece, meanwhile, was on a war path with the EU, and it looks like it’s paid off. In the biggest majority for any Eurozone rescue package vote so far, members of the German parliament have almost unanimously approved the reform plan for Greece, which paves the way for a four-month loan extension.
READ MORE: Germany’s Bundestag okays Greece’s bailout extension
Germany’s vote (despite much in-fighting) is crucial for Greece, since Berlin is Athens’ main creditor. Other EU members will vote on the plan taken by the EC on Tuesday.
