Female activists detained during topless protest in Ukraine

Police in the Ukrainian capital rounded up on Tuesday at least four feminist activists who staged a topless protest near Kiev's main sports arena during a visit by UEFA chief Michel Platini. The demonstration - "Euro without prostitution" - was held as Ukraine, together with Poland, prepares to host the 2012 European Football Championship. Platini arrived in Ukraine on Monday for a two-day inspection. It took police some 20 minutes to arrive at the Olympiisky National Sports Complex and detain the activists, who turned to be members of the Femen group. Topless protests have been used on a number of occasions by Femen activists, most of whom are female university students, to attract public attention to various domestic and international problems. "Femen demands that UEFA initiate an explanatory campaign for football fans about the impermissibility of sex tourism and funding the sex industry, and the Ukrainian authorities criminalize the visiting of prostitutes," the group said in a statement on its LiveJournal page. Prostitution in Ukraine is illegal but widespread, with the country remaining one of the main suppliers of prostitutes to Western Europe. In 2005, Ukraine toughened criminal penalties for human trafficking and coerced prostitution. Femen has proposed the introduction of criminal responsibility for the use of sex industry services.