UKRAINE: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Topless Femen activist Yana Zhdanova is immediately seized by police as she drops her top and tries to grab the Euro 2012 championship cup on display in Lviv

Record ID: 863672

  • Title: UKRAINE: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Topless Femen activist Yana Zhdanova is immediately seized by police as she drops her top and tries to grab the Euro 2012 championship cup on display in Lviv
  • Date: 25th May 2012
  • Summary: OFFICERS CARRYING ZHDANOVA OUT OFFICER'S HANDS ON POLICE TRUCK DOORS, TRUCK DRIVING AWAY (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) FEMEN ACTIVIST OLEKSANDRA SHEVCHENKO, SAYING: "We needed to tear down this trophy to show that this phallic symbol does not need to stand on a pedestal, when our country is being turned into a brothel. Because UEFA have arranged with our politicians and that d
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • City:
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Crime,Politics,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVADJVD1IGUNTNLQ9E7796PCRJN1
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  • Story Text: A topless activist from a Ukrainian women's rights group staged a third attack on the Euro 2012 soccer trophy on Thursday (May 24), grabbing it while it was on public display in the Ukrainian town of Lviv, before being seized herself by police.
    Yana Zhdanova, an activist in the Femen group, peeled down her dress revealing the words "Fuck Euro 2012" on her torso, and grabbed hold of the 60 cm (two feet) high cup while it was being exhibited in a central square.
    The Kiev-based Femen group is focusing its topless protests for women's rights on next month's Euro 2012 soccer tournament, which Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland.
    Femen says Euro 2012, which will run in Ukraine from June 9 to July 1, will lead to a surge in prostitution in the former Soviet republic and entrench the country as a sex tourist destination in Europe.
    "We needed to tear down this trophy to show that this phallic symbol does not need to stand on a pedestal, when our country is being turned into a brothel. Because UEFA have arranged with our politicians and that during the Euro 2012 they want to turn our country into a bordello. In order to win back the money that has been put into the Euro 2012," said fellow Femen activist Oleksandra Shevchenko.
    The group is threatening to carry out a blitz of stunts against the tournament. Other Femen activists staged similar protests in Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk earlier this month, seizing hold of the same cup while it was on public display in the capital.
    The 8 kg (17 lbs) Henri Delaunay cup is on a tour of Ukraine so Ukrainians can have souvenir photographs taken of themselves alongside it.
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