The Montreal-based women’s rights activist who staged a topless protest during the city’s Grand Prix festivities in 2015 should have the legal proceedings stayed, her lawyer said Wednesday.
Defence lawyer Veronique Robert told the municipal court that the way private security agents detained Neda Topaloski was violent and constituted an illegal arrest.
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Topaloski, 30, is a member of the international feminist group called Femen, whose members stage topless protests around the world.
She has previously disrupted events in the House of Commons as well as in Quebec’s legislature.
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She is facing charges of mischief and disturbing the peace after she protested during a street festival in downtown Montreal associated with the Canadian Grand Prix.
Topaloski testified that members of the event’s security staff dragged her roughly along the pavement by her hands and feet and stepped on her hair after she climbed onto a car as part of her protest.
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She said she was left with skin abrasions and bruises.
Outside the courtroom, Topaloski said that at the time of her arrest, she had been peacefully protesting the prostitution and sexual exploitation she associates with the Formula One event.
“Women’s bodies are always used to sexualize women and objectify women and they are used to sell products and sell women as products,” she said.
“If they can use our bodies to sell things and sell women then we can use them for our feminist goals and write our ideas of equality and freedom on them.”
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In November, she was arrested after staging a topless protest at a New York City election polling station.
Her trial is expected to conclude Thursday.