A screaming, topless protester with the words “Stop Raping Us” scrawled across her torso crashed the 75th Cannes Film Festival red carpet on Friday.
Security rushed over to cover up and whisk away the protester, who was screaming “Don’t rape us!” at the red carpet event in France.
“On the Cannes red carpet for George Miller’s new movie, the woman in front of me stripped off all her clothes (covered in body paint) and fell to her knees screaming in front of photographers,” New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan tweeted on Friday.
“Cannes authorities rushed over, covered her in a coat, & blocked my camera from filming,” the reported added, sharing a small video clip of the incident.
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The words on the topless woman were written in body paint over the Ukrainian national colors of blue and yellow. The protester also appeared to have red paint pouring from her underwear, as well as red handprints on her thighs.
The woman also appeared to have the word “scum” written on her lower back.
A protestor that was wearing body paint on her front that read “Stop Raping Us” in the color of the Ukrainian flag appears at the premiere of the film ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ at the 75th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 20, 2022. (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
The Russia-Ukraine war has reportedly caused tension at the Cannes Film Festival, as Russian artists and filmmakers have not been banned from the event.
The 10-day festival kicked off Tuesday with a live satellite video address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The protest arrived ahead of the premiere of Three Thousand Years of Longing, starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, as well as a day before Cannes’ “Ukraine Day,” when the festival plans to hold a series of events in solidarity for Ukraine’s downtrodden film industry.
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