Two topless activists from the Ukrainian group Femen failed to get their point across to fans in Kiev for the Euro 2012 football championship.
The activists stormed the Swedish section of the Euro 2012 fan zone and ripped off their shirts to reveal their breasts and signs saying "F**k You Euro 2012".
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WARNING NUDITY: Photos from a topless Femen protest at Euro 2012 on June 8
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Swedish fans were not sure what to make of the spontaneous strip-tease by two women from the feminist Ukrainian group, but most did not comprehend that the protest was meant to drive home a women's-rights political message.
About one million foreign tourists were expected in Ukraine for Euro 2012. Femen activists said the European championship, which Ukraine was co-hosting with Poland, was a magnet for sex tourists - one of the group's main targets - and fed the country's booming sex industry.
Swedish fans in the "Swedish Corner", where thousands gathered to drink beer and rally before Group D matches, booed and jeered at the topless activists.
After one activist was pulled from atop a table by a Swedish fan, security personnel quickly grabbed the women and escorted them to police officers waiting just outside the zone.
Swedish fan Christian said, in theory, Europeans could appreciate a protest against sex tourism and other abuses, but Femen's tactics were counter-productive.
"I think that maybe some of the guys were just happy to see the topless girls," he said. "And I don't think that was the intention by the girls."
Femen regularly stages bare-breast protests in Ukraine - and sometimes beyond - to highlight what it sees as political injustice, social abuse and the exploitation of women in Ukraine.
3 News / Reuters