I heard about this protest on Twitter this morning, and the photos made me laugh out loud.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel came face to face – or face to breast – with naked FEMEN activists as they toured an industrial fair in Hanover on Monday.
The leaders were taking in a presentation of a new Volkswagen model when the four women started chanting “f… dictator”. The activists had the same words painted in black ink across their chests and were eventually overpowered by security guards.
Merkel and Putin were attending the Hanover Messe in northern Germany, where Russia is this year’s guest country. Photos taken afterwards suggest they saw the funny side of the protest, if not the motivation behind it.
Here’s some video of the confrontation. It looks like Three Stooges skit.
On their Facebook page, Femen said the protest was an “anti-dictatorial attack on Putin”. The group criticised the Kremlin, Russia’s Federal Security Service and the Russian Orthodox Church, saying that Femen was against “dictatorship, homophobia and theocracy”.
Femen protests have included burning a Salafist flag in front of the Grand Mosque in Paris, and chopping down an Orthodox cross with a chainsaw.
The group has criticized Mr Putin over the arrest and conviction of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, for performing an anti-Putin song in a Moscow cathedral last year.
Russia has urged German authorities to punish the protesters. “This is ordinary hooliganism and unfortunately it happens all over the world, in any city. One needs to punish (them),” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
More photos
Putin sees something he likes
Chaos ensues
Merkel and Putin get the giggles
And laugh heartily
Comments
20 responses to “Late Late Night: FEMEN Protesters Confront Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin”
I see Putin with the thumbs up in that first picture…
Actually I really don’t like these kind of protest, I think they objectify and sexualize women but, maybe I am to touch about that.
I guess a lot of people feel that way. I’m not sure what I think about it. It’s definitely a way to attract attention to a cause.
Plus, it makes Merkel and Putin look like complete idiots. I can’t believe these kinds of people are running the world.
FEMEN uses this objectification to get publicity. How many more people, do you think, would click on a news article “Topless protesters confront Vladimir Putin” compared to “Protesters confront Vladimir Putin”? And at least some of these people won’t just scan for pictures and will actually read the article and learn something about Putin’s regime.
In honor of Annette Funicello: Beach Blanket Bingo. I actually saw this movie in a theater. It was awful.
My mother in law Hiroko died today. She was 85 and grew up in Kyoto during the absolute worst of the war. She had to smuggle rice in her kimono so they family could eat. She lived with us awhile and I met her when I was 18. She taught me how to cook, play bridge better, speak Japanese, and make sushi! My oldest daughter was incredibly attached to her since she lived with us when she was a toddler. She had Alzheimer’s and was really sick at the end. Still, I feel privileged to have had a mother in law that I have no complaints about what so ever.
Oh Kat I am so sorry, I know how much you thought of her.
Oh, no, Kat – I am so, so sorry and offer my deepest condolences. She sounds like she was a wonderful woman and very strong, having survived the war.
I’m so sorry Dak. I know you loved her.
Doctor Daughter just called. They were thick as thieves when she was a toddler and Hiroko lived with us. I was the one that got her through her divorce. I really took del’s dad to the cleaners too!!!
Thanks … I’m actually taking it harder than I thought … just called my dad to tell him too.
{{{{{ Dakinikat }}}}}
My heartfelt condolences to you and your family. It’s never an easy thing to lose a loved one.
I’m sorry for your loss, dak. She sounds like a wonderful woman. You are lucky to have known her. My condolences.
What a beautiful woman, you were lucky to have one another.
I’ll bet you taught her a lot of things, too.
Sounds like a lovely lady, my condolences on your loss.
Japanese women are so lovely, when I was a teenager Musako (we worked together) taught me how to care for orchids (an art form) and keep them in blossom for months on end…I still have orchids in the kitchen window to this day.
I am sorry to hear that, please accept my condolences.
So sorry.
My thoughts are with you and your family Dak…………..she is very pretty, and lived good old age.
The kid cousin did it………….most valuable player.