Nude women's peace sign stirs controversy

SWANSEA, Mo., Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Swansea police officers asked a St. Louis-area business to hide a weekly newspaper from public view because of a picture of naked women forming a peace sign.

The 57 women posed for the photograph to bring attention to "Peace Out!" -- a night of music, dancing and poetry to protest the war in Iraq, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday.

"We put it out there knowing it was a provocative image, but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that a police department would take action to remove the publication from a newsstand," said Tom Finkel, editor of the weekly Riverfront Times.

Police went to Huck's Food and Fuel at the request of Swansea Mayor Chip Gray, who said he didn't believe the picture was appropriate.

Swansea Deputy Police Chief Steve Krakowiecki said the manager had received copies of the Riverfront Times, but they had not yet displayed when the officers arrived.

"The most we would have done was to ask them to move them out of public view, but it didn't come to that," he said.

The store manager discarded all copies after she saw the picture.