Three activists from the notoriously clothing-optional FEMEN protest group were arrested in Davos Saturday as they raged against the current World Economic Forum, which they say overlooks the poorest amongst us.
Braving freezing temperatures to deliver their typically over the top, topless protest against the world’s economic and political elite, the three activists were detained after climbing a security fence guarding the site of this year’s forum.According to the statement released by the group, the activists “reached the entrance to the congress hall, and, at snipers' gunpoint, carried out a protest act under the motto 'Stop the Davos conspiracy!"
The three women, identified as Inna Shevchenko, Aleksandra Shevchenko and Oksana Shachko, had painted their bare bodies with slogans like "Crisis. Made in Davos," "Gangsters’ party in Davos" and "Poor because of you."According to Davos police spokesman Thomas Hobi, the three women were taken to a police station and told they did not have permission to protest. After being identified, they were released without charge. Since the late 1990s, the annual World Economic Forum gathering at Davos has incited the ire of anti-globalization activists, who claim the 2,500 elites in attendance merely deepen systemic poverty around the globe.
While FEMEN are best known for baring themselves to bring attention to feminist issues back home in Ukraine, they have also turned heads and raised eyebrows on the international stage. Last month, three FEMEN activists said they were kidnapped and tortured by the Belarusian security service for organizing a demonstration against President Aleksandr Lukashenko in the capital Minsk.This time around, it seems more than likely Swiss police will take a softer approach with the detainees than their Belarusian counterparts.