‘Stop Raping Us’: Top Stripped with Pants Stained Red, Woman at Cannes Protests Sexual Crimes in Ukraine War

In an incident that disrupted the proceedings at the Cannes Film Festival for a brief period on Friday, a topless woman shouted down the red carpet with the words ‘Stop Raping Us’ painted on her body stark against the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

According to reports, the lone demonstrator stripped off on the red carpet to reveal her body as a mark of protest against sexual crime against women in the ongoing Ukraine war. Clad in underpants stained red, the solo protester screamed and posed for photographers. Soon, security guards with a jacket managed to get a hold of her and cover her while leading her off the red carpet.

The woman’s stunt briefly interrupted the parade of guests in evening wear, including Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, attending the premiere of their film Three Thousand Years of Longing by George Miller.

At the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy launched a video appeal for aid for his country that was invaded by Russia on February 24. Last month, Zelenskyy said investigators had received reports of “hundreds of cases of rape” in areas previously occupied by Russian troops, including sexual assaults of small children.

The war has already been a major theme at the festival, with a special screening on Thursday of Mariupolis 2, a documentary by Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius, who was killed in Ukraine last month – reportedly by Russian forces. Ukraine’s beleaguered film-makers will get a special day at the industry marketplace on Saturday, and one of its most promising directors, Sergei Loznitsa, will show The Natural History of Destruction, about the bombing of German cities in World War II.

(With AFP inputs)

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