Femen stages topless protest in Stockholm mosque

[Quantess]

Source: alarabiya.net, AFP, expressen.se

AFP, Stockholm
Three feminist activists from the radical protest group Femen staged a topless protest inside a Stockholm mosque on Saturday before they were led away by police.

The women burst into the mosque and tore off their black robes to bare their breasts, which were emblazoned with slogans such as “No sharia in Egypt and the world” and “My body is mine, not somebody’s honor”. The women shouted “Free Women”, “No Sharia” and “No Oppression”.

The mosque was largely empty at the time apart from a couple of employees and some members of the press who had been told of the planned protest in advance.

Mosque employees called police who removed the women from the scene. The women did not explain why they wanted to protest inside an empty mosque.

Read more: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/06/29/Femen-stages-topless-protest-in-Stockholm-mosque-.html

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http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/femen-lag-bakom-toplessaktion-i-moske/

[Botany]

1. DU keeping me a breast of all the latest news

Sorry I can't help it if i act like a boob sometimes but admit it you
tittered a little bit.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Rasberries are always blacked

Might as well start calling them blackberries.

[Deep13]

3. What?!

I realize Sweden is a hotbed of Islamic repression and all, but even so, this is silly.

[penultimate]

4. Why this mosque? Was it just randomly chosen?

Has this mosque or anyone associated with it been rallying support to bring Sharia law to Sweden, or more likely, protesting Sweden's liberal laws by anyone from the mosque? (I am aware of Sweden's issues with some of it's Muslim population in recent years, but I'm wondering if there was anything specific that sparked this)

[Squinch]

24. Well, it was hot outside, and the air conditioning was a little wonky.

[Scootaloo]

26. Swedish Muslims secretly run Egypt, I guess

[DRoseDARs]

5. OK, no, that's taking it too far. I'm not religious, but there are some things you just don't do.

It doesn't matter if it was a mosque, synagog, church or temple, the inside of such a place is off-limits. Period. Femen has been one of the more amusing protest examples and I agree with their cause, but this is PETA-esque in its wankery.

[jessie04]

6. No way...

They are making an incredibly positive statement and calling attention to oppression of women.

I like them.

[DRoseDARs]

10. And if protestors entered a synagog with pork to protest something or other? You'd be OK with that?

Or would you be a racist hypocrite?

Antagonizing "The Other" with something deeply offensive to them in a place they consider a sanctuary from the outside world is NOT the way to reach them. You engage them outside so they have something to reflect on inside and a house of worship is a place to contemplate. Otherwise, you're just being an asshole and reenforcing "The Other's" view of you and your point.

[idwiyo]

8. Respectfully disagree. As long as any religious institution enjoys a tax exempt status they are

a fair game.

If they are privately funded, own the property, pay income and property taxes like everyone else, than their private property is off limits for protests.

[DRoseDARs]

9. You are aware that Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, right? nt

[penultimate]

11. Which is part of Utah, right?

[DRoseDARs]

13. I can't count how many times people assume they're reading a story based in the US, only it's not.nt

[idwiyo]

15. Utah? Your so ignorant! EVERYONE nose it's in British Columbia, which is county in New Mexico!

[Squinch]

23. Do they speak African there?

[idwiyo]

25. Yes, absolutely! African, British Columbian, and Mexican. It's a three languages county!

[idwiyo]

12. No way! Really? I was like SURE there was no world outside of US borders!

Thank you so much for letting me know! I live like less than 1500 km SW of Sweden but I swear to gawd, I had not a slightest idea it even exists, and I was so sure Stockholm is a small town USA.

[DRoseDARs]

14. See #11 nt

[MADem]

31. Perhaps they were channelling the rock band that protested in the church in Moscow? nt

[idwiyo]

7. K&R Go FEMEN!

[dipsydoodle]

16. I assume you know that Femen is a Ukrainian franchise

which doesn't employ fat women.

[idwiyo]

17. Yeah, sure. They are all blond, skinny and drop dead gorgeous with big boobs.

I heard that on DU, and I'll take that info over what my own lying eyes tell me.



PS They are also sponsored by CIA, MOSAD, FSB, German, Jewish, American and Russian millionaires, AND global porn industry. AND they are not really Ukrainians but Ukrainian Jews, or Russian Jews, or something like it. And they are in it for money! And to show their BOOBIES!





PSS just in case this gets alerted on: dear members of the DU jury, all that disgusting crap above is used by various arseholes on Internet to discredit FEMEN.

[dipsydoodle]

18. Whatever

they do all tend to look more or less the same. Link to what I'd said here : http://www.democraticunderground.com/110818719

[penultimate]

19. Does Femen actively discourage less than fit women from joining their protests

or does it simply attract less overweight women because of the nature of their protest methods? A google search shows only a few pictures here and there of overweight women. Although, I only found one article discussing Femen not wanting overweight women. But even that was second-hand from someone saying they heard that.

[idwiyo]

20. I saw more than enough pictures of FEMEN ladies who look anything but blond-skinny-young-BOOBIES!!!

Also, I can't figure out what's wrong with FEMEN (original chapter) been Ukrainian. I saw it presented as an accusation/proof of, but still have not a slightest idea what it proves.

As to the the other crap that is spread on Internet against FEMEN... Oh boy! I don't want to go there again. Lets just say, anything goes! Bigotry, racism, misogyny...

[jessie04]

21. Anna Hutsol is great.

[Ash_F]

22. I respect what they are trying to do but...

but maybe the Egyptian embassy would have been a better location than a Swedish Mosque that has nothing to do with Egypt or the push for sharia law that is happening there.

I remember a year or two ago the Swedish Media and Right, as well as the International Media and Right, really jumped on a "Muslim immigrants are raping Swedish women!" bandwagon after a couple high-profile rape cases perpetrated by immigrants. After a while, statistics came out that White Swedes were far more likely to commit rape than any other group and things started to die down. However, I am sure the negative effects of that media campaign still linger on the Swedish populace. Surprisingly, no "White Swedes are raping Swedish women!" media campaign followed.

What I am trying to say is that these women may be unwittingly engendering hate against an entire demographic by targeting people who in no way did anything wrong. If a leader of that Mosque was espousing Sharia law, it would be different of course.

I still have respect for Femen. They originally campaigned against the sex slave trade in Ukraine. That was very dangerous and took courage.

[geek tragedy]

27. Attention-seeking narcissism, not activism. nt

[Pelican]

28. Was hoping for some sort of Dune reference...

Oh well... next time...

[JI7]

29. so they are like the wingnuts who protested the Mosque in NY and other

parts of the country with the "no shariah" crap.

[DFW]

30. Why the women "wanted to protest inside an empty mosque?"

Maybe because they wished to leave it alive?

[Quantess]

32. My thoughts exactly.

To do that in a crowded mosque would be risking physical assault. In an empty mosque they would still get some publicity but escape intact.