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Women go topless in France to protest controversial Muslim conference

By Doug G. Ware
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PARIS, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Two members of a feminist group shed their shirts to protest a controversial Islamic conference in France over the weekend.

The women, members of the Femen group, stormed a podium at the conference as fundamentalist Muslim preachers began to discuss whether it was acceptable for members of their faith to physically assault women, according to a Femen representative.

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They had phrases written on their torsos, which read "No one subjugates me" and "I am my own prophet". The unidentified women, ages 31 and 25, were arrested for the stunt.

The women had been wearing Arab-style cloaks before they went topless, and once on the podium, they shouted feminist slogans in French and Arabic.

A video of the incident shows about a dozen men physically removing the women from the stage. One even appears to kick one of the women.

The Femen representative said some men at the conference shouted disparaging remarks and one even suggested, "kill them."

The women were questioned and released by French authorities, who were investigating the incident. Conference organizers indicated they would press charges against the women.

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One speaker at the conference has reportedly demanded on social media that women veil their faces or risk sexual assault in the afterlife. Some Twitter posts called for the protesting women to be stoned or collectively raped, Britain's Telegraph reported.

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