So, you’re extremely annoyed with your government and you want to protest this discontent in a way that will gain publicity and perhaps turn peoples minds to your way of thinking. Maybe you could chain yourself to the railings of parliament, parade naked in front of a government building or even incite a riot…

How about stripping naked in Red Square, Moscow and nailing your testicles to the ground.

That’s right, a Russian chap (well, he used to be a chap…) by the name of Pyotr Pavlensky was so incensed at his government’s crackdown on political rights that he sat down outside Lenin’s Mausoleum in Red Square and in front of horrified passers-by drove a nail through his testicles and into the ground.

Pavlensky, who is described as a performance artist, posted a statement on the Grani.ru website, just before his nut-nailing escapade, which said that he was trying to draw attention to Russian society’s indifference to becoming a ‘police state’.

According to the state-run news agency, RIA Novosti, plumless Pavlensky was taken to a Moscow clinic, where he was treated for his injuries and then later to a police station.

Maybe he just wanted to get some of the worst politicians the sack… well they can have it now, as most of it is still attached to Red Square!

As a footnote, being a performance artist, Pavlensky is hoping to appear soon in an adaptation of The Nutcracker Suite.

Lastly… we may have made the last two paragraphs up. *Gasp!*