A trio of bare-breasted Ukrainian feminists, some 50 igloo-dwelling occupiers and another 150 anticapitalist activists mounted a noisy protest outside the Davos forum on Saturday.

Biting cold, deep snows and a nononsense security presence kept the crowd at bay, however, and the last day of the annual get-together for the world's business and political elite went off without a hitch ... almost.

Outside the fortified Kongress Zentrum, activists were kept in a single town square by means of a brief dosing of police tear gas and the intervention of town Mayor Hans-Pieter Michel, blocking the street himself.

Michel interposed himself between masked anarchists and police lines, as he has done since his election in 2003, when he decided to allow the protesters to make their voices heard in his Alpine resort during the annual forum.

Before then, he explained, police had held demonstrators back down the valley beyond a strict security cordon - isolating the VIPs from discordant voices, but provoking violent clashes with large groups of demonstrators.

This year's protest was more peaceful, but police took no chances.

Femen, an Ukrainian feminist group that has won world notoriety for its topless stunts, attracted the most media attention when three of its activists braved the sub-zero temperatures to get something off their chests. They arrived at the security checks at the congress hall's entrance where they undressed, revealing slogans painted across their upper bodies including "Gangster Party in Davos" and "Poor Because of You."

They also brandished signs saying "Crisis Made in Davos" and were arrested after they attempted to scale the metal fences.

Via: edmontonjournal.com

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