Bare chested women’s rights protester arrested at Vatican

A brazen topless protester from the Ukrainian women’s rights group Femen sneaked past security and partially stripped in front of St Peter’s Basilica just after the Pope’s Sunday Angelus message.

Alexandra Shevchenko was arrested at the Vatican after dropping to her knees in St. Peter’s Square, holding up a sign reading “Freedom for Women” and removing her black see-thru top as seven police officers converged on her.

The officers quickly wrestled the screaming Shevchenko to the ground and took her into custody.

Femen said on its site that Shevchenko was supposed to be joined by two others but they had been detained earlier by Vatican police who had been tipped off about the impending protest.

All three were held for four hours before being released. The group said the purpose of its protest was to crusade against the Vatican’s “sexist policies.”

“The papal patriarchal propaganda continues to promulgate a medieval idea of a woman’s social and cultural place,” the group said on its site. “We stand for the rights of free women.”

The group has become well known for going to new lengths to ensure their voices are heard. Their methods usually involve letting down their bra straps.

A day earlier, topless members of the group painted in the colours of the Italian flag joined several thousand people demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is embroiled in a sex scandal while his government flounders in the debt crisis sweeping Europe.

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