That woman is not at touching distance, from the photograph above the distance seems to be over 10 meters.
Jérôme,
in the many accompanying videos, she actually goes right up to the police lines and lectures them. After all they have been beating, gassing and shooting peaceful protesters.
She is also spreading her legs to, according to the article, display her genitals.
Actually it says,
“Look I am female, as sacred as your daughters and mothers and from where you were born. Respect our worth and humanity!”
In my extensive study of the Genocide by the Turks of Armenian Christians, I found a report by the Italian Consul looking from his window in the Port of Trebizond on the Black Sea. The Turk soldiers were rounding up Armenian Woman to be crowded on flimsy rafts and drowned. Prior to that, younger wonen were being openly raped in public.
A young Muslim woman broke through the crowd screaming for the Turk officers to halt the the cruel bedlam. She was ignored. She climbed on a wagon and screamed at the officers to stop the rapes. They ignored just a woman.
So she stripped naked and then the officer order all the soldiers to turn around as seeing a Muslim woman naked was a disgrace.
The woman then brought in helpers to rescue scores of young girls and save them and spirit them away.
Woman have used their vulnerability and nakedness as the final protest to powerful men through out history!
I am actually surprised that the police did not catch her, wrap her in a blanket and bring her into custody.
Contrary to common belief, public nudity laws are varied. In many locations it requires someone else to be suffering and complain in order for the woman to have to cover up breasts. Genitals is another matter.
In a clearly “political“ demonstration, however, nudity is considered an accepted part of “speech” and likely as not, totally protected under the US Constitution.
In my mind, the event is deeply wrong on several levels. What this woman did is against the law. The police duty would be to stop it. They did not, because of the special circumstances of the event and for reasons which are not quite clear at this point.
Well, Jérôme,
Have I adequately explained the law?
But it remains that we have an account of an event where the rule of law failed, in a country which is supposed to still be democratic.
Again, the rule of law allows that “nudity” can be part of free political speech!
There are even more reasons to worry when this is not a single event and it is not. From the
femen to
pussy riot (links to wikipedia not "safe for work" as they show female nudity), we have had several groups using the female body as a political lever. I understand why they do it: the TV loves these displays so they have a sure spot on prime time news, but I don't think it helps the cause of women and I don't think that a country politics should be run by TV news.
To me, it’s a very effective way of damping down the police aggression.
In some demonstrations, woman line up with children to block the police from charging and beating people.
Here, police unions are very powerful and have negotiated contracts making it very hard to hold criminal police behavior to account. We have actual tattoos gangs of Sheriffs who celebrate each time they trap and kill someone! It’s like being a hunter!
if police are called for a domestic argument, that’s an opportunity to bag a kill. Here in LA, a woman called the police on a hot evening as she heard neighbors fighting. They came up the apartment staircase and saw her as she was adjust her sticky dress, and ordered her to drop her weapon. Minutes later she was dead of multiple bullets!
in my city, however, they dont
To be clear: I am not offended by nudity (female or male) and, would I be a judge in the USA, I would not fine this woman beyond the minimum permissible by law (e.g. a token 1$, maybe). I am just saying that there is something wrong here.
To me, the woman is a heroine. I have no doubt, that at the very least she saved one man’s skull one woman’s ribs from batons and fractures!
If police commanders and captains received a monthly bonus, only if no shots were fired and no injuries occur, I assure you this pointless violence would cease!
Asher