Swedish fans initially mistook a women’s rights protest for a spontaneous striptease on Tuesday when the Ukrainian Femen group staged a bare-breasted table-top demonstration against Euro 2012 in the capital Kiev.
However, the whoops of delight turned to booing when Femen activists held up placards denouncing the European Championships and kicked Swedish fans’ beer off tables in Kiev’s fan zone.
The group, which carries out topless protests to highlight the growth of the sex industry in Ukraine, has targeted Euro 2012, which Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland, and which it says feeds sex tourism.
Photo: Reuters
In a statement, the group said one protest was successfully carried out on Tuesday in Kiev, but two other activists were quickly spotted and detained by police.
“The most recognizable activists, Alexandra Shevchenko and Inna Shevchenko, were seized in the vicinity, pushed out of the fan zone and badly beaten,” the group’s statement said.
However, Femen activist Oksana Sachko climbed on to a table and danced with Swedish soccer supporters massed in blazing sunshine for the start of their team’s Group D match against France, which was to be televised on big screens.
There were initially whoops of delight from fans when Sachko, a 25-year-old icon painter and one of the group’s main activists, took off her khaki T-shirt.
However, when she revealed the words “Fuck Euro 2012” written across her torso and held up a placard with the same slogan they began to boo and jeer.
When a fan grabbed her by the arm, she lost balance and fell to the ground. Ukrainian security volunteers finally managed to carry her out of the zone and she was taken off by police.
“To be honest, if you see the guys here, if the girls show off topless it will just get positive attention. I am not really sure that they [Femen] got their message through,” Swedish fan Christian said.
“I think there may be some guys here who were just happy to see the topless girls and I don’t think that was the intention by the girls.”
“The activists of Femen carried out a protest against the low-life fans in the fan zone of the Swedish national side. The activists climbed on to tables and began to kick away the cans of beer with which UEFA has generously lubricated the throats of football fanatics,” the Femen statement said.
Ahead of Euro 2012, which began in Poland on June 8 and due to end with the final in Kiev on July 1, the Femen group threatened a wave of actions to disrupt the tournament.
Its activists made two attempts to seize the tournament’s Henri Delaunay Trophy when it was on public display in various towns in Ukraine before the tournament started.
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
Roger Federer on Wednesday said that staying involved with tennis in retirement helped him avoid feeling “like an alien” ahead of this week’s Laver Cup in Berlin. Federer, who helped create the tournament, retired at the Laver Cup in London two years ago and has since stayed involved with the competition as an ambassador. “I’m happy I went back right away to some tournaments,” the 43-year-old told reporters. “I feel I ripped the Band-Aid off quite quickly and when I walk around the tennis sites I still feel I belong there,” he said. “I don’t feel like an alien, which is a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or