A Putin protest was staged by a topless feminist group during his visit to Germany and the Netherlands. The protesters voiced against Vladimir Putin’s policy against gays.
Russian president Vladimir Putin was joined by Hannover, Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel while visiting the Volkswagen booth at the Hannover Messe Industrie 2013 expo. Putin was taking a closer look at the hyper-efficient Volkswagen XL1 diesel-electric plug-in hybrid vehicle when three topless protesters of the FEMEN Ukraine women’s rights protest group charged and screamed at the Russian leader. The outraged topless women called Putin a dictator.
Security guards tackled the protesters before they could reach Putin. The three topless women were promptly apprehended into custody.
FEMEN and numerous gay rights groups joined together again Putin due to a recently proposed Russian bill that makes gay public events and the dissemination of information about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community punishable by fines of up to $16,000. A preemptive protest, Putin has yet to sign the bill into law.
"These people, like others, have all rights and freedoms, Putin calmly stated in response to the protest.
What’s more, Putin also voiced his thoughts on the demonstration.
"Regarding this performance, I liked it," grinned Putin during a joint press conference with Angela Merkel. Vladimir Putin also said that the security personnel could have been “gentler” in handling with the topless women.
President Vladimir Putin attended the Hannover Messe Industrie 2013 expo in Germany and visited the Netherlands to meet with Queen Beatrix to open an exhibition at the Hermitage dedicated to Peter the Great.
The visits were intended to demonstrate Russia’s growing economic ties with other European countries. In fact, the Netherlands had exceeded Germany to become Russia’s largest European trading partner last year with $83 billion in bilateral trade.
