In an anti-Islamophobia rally organised in Paris on Sunday, FEMEN activists disrupted it with their trademark 'topless' protest. In the rally, where hundreds of people can be seen participating, a woman can be seen holding a banner that read "Le Blaspheme Est un Droit Republicain" that means "Blasphemy is a republican right"
As soon as the man behind him takes the banner from her, she takes off her top "as a sign of protest". In the video, people can be seen covering the woman, using their coats and umbrella, trying to shield her from the camera; while she continues on with her 'protest'.
FEMEN is a radical feminist group, active in France, has organised similar protests, earlier. In September 2015, in France, two FEMEN activists jumped onto the stage, where an Islamic conference was underway, and protested bare-breasted. They had to be forcibly removed from the stage. In 2013, FEMEN organised demonstrations under the name "International Topless Jihad Day", in various European cities.
FEMEN was originally founded in Ukraine in 2008, but later shifted its base to Paris. The radical group has attracted controversies due to its topless protests. The organization describes itself as fighting patriarchy in all its manifestations-sexual exploitation, dictatorship and religion. The group describes its topless protests as 'a naked war against patriarchy' and calls it their 'sextremism'
To achieve its goal, the group seeks to promote new revolutionary female sexuality as opposed to the patriarchal erotic and pornography. It is also against political deposition of all dictatorial regimes "creating unbearable living conditions for women, first of all, theocratic Islamic states practicing Shari'ah and other forms of sadism regarding women." FEMEN's tactics include sextremism that is a fundamentally new form of women's feminist actionism.
