Three women blasted the habitual smugness of the MP’s in Parliament when they stripped off to the waist, shouting, “Abortion is sacred.”
Femen, originally a Ukrainian protest group, specialised in bare-chested protest, has taken root all over Europe with the strongest offshoot being in France – one of the three women was French.
The three activists were protesting against the conservative government’s new law concerning abortion, which will set the country back in this area to 1985. As the Rajoy government enjoys a crushing majority in both Houses, there is little that the combined opposition parties can do to prevent this.
No sooner than the first protests erupted in the visitors section of the upper gallery, ushers ran to the area to remove the protesting women, who had “Abortion is Sacred” written just below their bare breasts.
The Chairman called on the ushers and security staff to be careful as one woman was clutching a column and the other was half over the balcony – both in danger of falling onto the seated area below.
Whilst most of the MP’s turned to watch the spectacle, a timid applause broke out from the left-wing area, followed immediately by indignant reproach from the conservative area.
The controversial Minister of Justice, Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, who had been addressing the House when the protest began, took up his speech once the protests were cleared from the hall. His first words were to express his incredulity at the chosen protest slogan, “abortion is sacred,” and his second observation was to criticise the opposition MP’s who had applauded.
Left-wing MP, Cayo Lara (IU) responded, “It is better to applaud women who defend the right to abort than to applaud cuts to the Public Health System,” referring to the conservatives’ supportive clapping to such announcements by their own leaders.
Chairman of the House. Jesús Posada, observed, “I don’t like this because it doesn’t help the image [reputation] of the House at all .” Many, however, might consider that the MP’s themselves don’t need any help destroying the “image” of the house – they have been achieving this all on their own with indefatigable determination.
The protesters were taken to the nearest police station and charged with disrupting the peace.
(News: Spain)