The woman was allegedly demonstrating in Ukraine against sexual violence.
A woman was escorted from the Cannes red carpet by security personnel ahead of the premiere of director George Miller’s latest film Three Thousand Years of Longing.
The protestor was covered in body paint that said “Stop rapping us” over a backdrop of yellow and blue, the Ukrainian flag’s colours. The phrase “Scum” was also written over her back.
She reportedly crashed the French film festival’s red carpet dressed earlier today (20 May), then stripped down to her underpants and screamed until security workers arrived to remove her.
She was protesting sexual abuse against Ukrainian women in the context of war, according to a Twitter tweet from a French activist organisation called “Scum.”
Russian military have been accused of rape and sexual abuse in Ukraine on several occasions. Pramila Patten, the UN Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict, and Sima Bahous, the Executive Director of UN Women, issued a statement in April calling for an immediate investigation into the claims.
On May 17, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a surprise speech at the Cannes Film Festival’s opening ceremony. The lawmaker, who used to be an actor, made a reference to Charlie Chaplin’s satirical classic The Great Dictator.
Men’s hatred will fade, dictators will die, and the authority that they seized from the people will be returned to them. And liberty will never die as long as men live.”
The film festival has yet to respond to the incident, and the activist’s identity is unknown.
