Three young women from the women’s rights group Femen were detained as they staged a topless protest in the Tunisian capital of Tunis – their first public stunt in the Arab world.
The spectacle culminated in scuffles outside the capital’s main
courthouse, as the group’s one German and two French female
members stood by the railings shouting the slogan “Free
Amina,” in reference to the young Tunisian woman who was
earlier arrested and is hours away from being tried for
protesting the policies of hardline Islamists.
Wearing only skimpy denim shorts, their bodies bearing the
inscriptions “Brest Feed Revolution” and “Femen
Extremist”, the ladies were quickly snatched up by
authorities and taken inside the courthouse, as journalists stood
by, observing the scene.
Tunisia, being a socially conservative country, saw a number of
witnesses, including lawyers, try to cover up the young women and
attack some of the journalists, claiming they were giving the
activists a platform for their antics. Once inside the building,
the lawyers followed the police and the women, singing the
country’s national anthem and shouting “Get out!” – the
words often heard during Tunisia’s own Arab Spring of January
2011.
Six of the journalists (among them one from Reuters and another
from France’s Canal+) were also detained, but let go after giving
statements about the event.
"An inquiry has been opened and they will be placed under
arrest and brought to trial," said the justice ministry’s
spokesman to AFP, also noting that indecency in Tunisia is
punishable by six months in prison, adding that the female
activists will not escape trial.
Martine Gambard-Trebucien, the French consul in Tunisia, has
testified to the women’s condition, telling the reporters they
were “fine.”
"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 to Tunis," said Femen leader Inna
Shevchenko to AFP in a phone conversation. "These countries
and these totalitarian regimes prey on women. We don't take any
notice of this kind," she concluded.
Despite this being the first show of such action in the Arab
world, some of the group’s most recent run-ins with police also
included the Turkish capital, Istanbul.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela
Merkel also could not avoid getting an eyeful of bare-breasted protest at the Hannover Messe
technology show in April of this year, whereupon the president
later joyfully remarked to journalists, “We knew it was
coming. You should thank the Ukrainian girls for helping you
promote the fair.”