A woman crashed the Cannes Film Festival red carpet premiere of George Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing” on Friday and stripped off her clothes in protest of sexual violence in Ukraine.
“Stop raping us,” read a message written across the unidentified woman’s topless torso covered in yellow and blue paint, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. The lower half of her body was covered in red paint.
The protester also had the word “scum” written on her lower back, which coincides with the name of a French collective of radical feminists.
“On May 20, 2022, a SCUM activist went to the Cannes Film Festival to denounce the sexual torture suffered by Ukrainian women in the war,” the group confirmed in an Instagram post Friday. “Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russian and European men have taken advantage of the war to sexually abuse Ukrainian women.”
After storming the Cannes red carpet, security authorities rushed toward the half-naked activist, covered her with a coat and attempted to block some cameras from filming.
She yelled “Don’t rape us!” as she was taken off the red carpet.
Representatives for the festival didn’t immediately comment on the incident.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has often been in the spotlight at this year’s Cannes festival, which is screening several films from Ukrainian filmmakers.
The festival barred Russians with ties to the Kremlin from attending.
Ukrainian President Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a surprise address Tuesday to open the festival.
Associated Press and Variety contributed.