Feminists Ask for Protection After Attack in Ukraine
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Version 0 of 1. MOSCOW — Leaders of Femen, the Ukrainian women’s rights group known for staging bare-breasted political protests, demanded government protection on Sunday after two of them and a male associate were assaulted while on vacation in the Black Sea port city of Odessa. The two leaders, Anna Hutsol and Alexandra Shevchenko, and Viktor Svatsky, a colleague, were beaten by unknown assailants on Saturday night outside an apartment building in Odessa where they were staying. It was the fifth time in recent weeks that members of Femen were assaulted. The group says the attacks are part of a campaign to drive it out of the country. In a statement, the group called on Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, Vitaly Zakharchenko, to provide round-the-clock security. “Otherwise Femen activists are in mortal danger,” the group wrote, “the responsibility for which will inevitably fall on the security forces of Ukraine.” There was no immediate response from the government. The group, which got its start in the university town of Khmelnytsky, now has headquarters in Kiev, the capital, and in Paris, along with branches in seven other countries. Members of the group, which says it opposes patriarchy in all forms, have staged topless demonstrations on an array of issues, including protests against prostitution, sex trafficking, organized religion, income inequality, domestic violence, female circumcision and authoritarian governments. Photographs posted on the group’s Web site on Sunday showed Ms. Hutsol with a swollen, red nose, a bloody eye and cuts above her lip, and Mr. Svatsky with welts on the side of his head, blackened eyes and a swollen lower lip. Ms. Shevchenko, in a telephone interview from Odessa, said that she and her colleagues had been returning to the apartment building after grocery shopping and had planned to cook shrimp for dinner when three men ambushed them in the darkened courtyard. “I saw that some guy is starting to run to us,” she said. “It was not just a hooligan. It was not a person who was just passing by.” “He ran to Viktor and started to beat him,” she said. “We started to scream, and Anna started to beat this guy with her backpack. I didn’t have anything. I started to run, to escape. This guy started to beat Anna. I started to escape from the yard, and there were two men who started to run after me. They pushed me and I fell down, and they kicked me in the head and ran back and continued to beat Anna and Viktor.” An Odessa regional police spokesman, Vladimir Shalivenko, told Agence France-Presse that the case was being investigated as an assault involving “minor bodily harm.” Ms. Shevchenko said that Mr. Svatsky and Ms. Hutsol had been treated at a hospital and were recovering, but that at the time of the attack on Saturday had not yet healed from previous assaults in Kiev. Last month, Mr. Svatsky was beaten savagely near Femen’s office in Kiev and spent two weeks in a hospital. Then, Ms. Hutsol was attacked outside her apartment and her dog was stolen, and, on the same day, Ms. Shevchenko, two other Femen members and a photojournalist were beaten and detained overnight by the Ukrainian authorities. Those attacks coincided with a visit to Kiev by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, for festivities related to the anniversary of the church’s founding. Ms. Shevchenko said the group had initially believed that the attacks were instigated by the Russian government to prevent a repeat of a situation early this year in Hanover, Germany, in which Ms. Shevchenko, topless, ran toward Mr. Putin, who was visiting a trade show with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Ms. Shevchenko, who had a profane slogan written on her chest accusing Mr. Putin of being a dictator, came within a few feet of the Russian leader before security officers wrestled her to the ground. Odessa, which is known as a hub for international sex trafficking, would seem to be a logical place for a Femen protest. But it is also one of Ukraine’s most popular resort cities, and the group’s leaders said the only thing they had planned was time at the beach. Ms. Shevchenko said that in recent days the group had let down its guard. “We were a little bit relaxed,” she said. “We thought that everything was over, and it was just guys from Russia. We went to Odessa just to have a small vacation.” While the Ukrainian government previously brought legal pressure against the group, including criminal charges related to hooliganism and public indecency, Ms. Shevchenko said the attack in Odessa had convinced leaders of the group that a broader effort is now under way to intimidate them and drive them out of Ukraine. She said they might leave. “Really, we are thinking about” leaving the country, Ms. Shevchenko said. “We can’t just stay here and wait for another attack and a moment when they kill somebody. Now, I think, it can really happen.” She added, “It’s physical pressure, and they are not afraid to do it.” Ms. Shevchenko said she had a constant sense of being followed, even while on vacation. “We thought maybe we had paranoia,” she said. “Now we can say it’s true; they follow us everywhere.” |