(Note: strong language in paragraph eight)

By Richard Balmforth

KYIV (Reuters) - Swedish fans initially mistook a women's rights protest for a spontaneous striptease on Tuesday when the Ukrainian Femen group staged a bare-breasted table-top demonstration against Euro 2012 in the capital Kyiv.

But the whoops of delight turned to booing when Femen activists held up placards denouncing the European soccer championship and kicked Swedish fans' beer off tables in Kyiv's fan zone.

The group, which carries out topless protests to highlight the growth of the sex industry in Ukraine, has targeted Euro 2012, which Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland and which it says feeds sex tourism.

In a statement, the group said one protest was successfully carried out on Tuesday in Kyiv, but two other activists were quickly spotted and detained by police.

"The most recognizable activists, Alexandra Shevchenko and Inna Shevchenko, were seized in the vicinity, pushed out of the fan zone and badly beaten," the statement said.

But Femen activist Oksana Sachko climbed on to a table and danced with Swedish soccer supporters massed in blazing sunshine for the start of their team's Group D match against France which was to be televised on big screens.
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Via: ca.reuters.com

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