Topless protesters stormed the red carpet at the Berlin Film Festival opening last night, narrowly avoiding running headlong into a glamorous Jane Fonda.
While the actress covered up on a snowy evening in a sparkling floor-length gown and fur coat, the activists scrawled political slogans over their naked breasts.
One of the demonstrators from Ukrainian women rights group ‘Femen’ scaled the barriers and threw herself in front of the cameras and hundreds of onlookers.
Exposure: A topless activist is led away by a security guard at the opening night premiere
Hijack: One demonstrator from women’s right group FEMEN managed to throw herself over the barriers
In the spotlight: The Ukrainian activists were protesting about genital mutilation of women in Africa
The scantily-clad protesters were using the glamorous event – known for its political streak – to demonstrate against female circumcision in Africa.
The semi-naked women appeared shortly after 74-year-old Fonda whisked through the doors in her sequined gold dress, metallic clutch bag and strappy sandals.
After she had given the peace sign to photographers as she showed off her picture perfect smile, the Femen protesters took things a step further.
Oleksandra Shevchenko, one of a trio of demonstrators, told Interfax the group were trying to draw attention to the barbaric practice of genital mutilation.
Grandmaster on Thursday evening
Astonishing scenes: Femen are known for topless protests at big events including football matches
Stopped: The protesters were stopped by security guards and taken away in police cars
Attention grabbing: The activists had scrawled slogans over their bare breasts on the chilly evening
‘One girl is circumcised every 19 minutes,’ she said.
But they failed to time their appearance to coincide with that of the stars at director Wong Kar Wai’s biopic of Yip Man, mentor of kung-fu king Bruce Lee.
The women were quickly removed by security and kept in a police vehicle for about an hour, according to Shevchenko.
Femen are known for staging attention-grabbing topless protests, at big events including major football matches.
The opening night premiere of martial arts film The Grandmaster was also attended by stars including Alina Levshin and Aylin Tezel, dressed more modestly in black.
