10 Most Bizarre Protests Ever Seen

Protests are not always about the angry crowd, bull horns and violence. To grab attention, whether of a handsome guy in the subway or of some concerned authority, people have been coming up with quirky ways of putting their point forward. Some succeeded in bringing about the desired change while others failed. Here is a list of 10 strange and most bizarre protests from around the world.

The 10 Most Bizarre Protests Ever Seen:

10. Slutwalk – Global Movement

On January 24, 2011 when addressing the issue of campus rape, Toronto Police Constable Michael Sanguinetti told a York University class that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized,” he drew criticisms from all corners and was accused of promoting “blame the victim” perception. His controversial statement sparked a unique protest where women (some dressed provocatively) would march down the streets in an attempt t redefine the term ‘slut’ as someone who is in control of her sex life which doesn’t mean that she should expect violence simply because ‘she’ is in charge of her sex life and not the man. ‘No one should equate enjoying sex with attracting sexual assault’. Although the SlutWalk originated in Toronto, it has since then gone global.

9. Going Naked Is Better Than Wearing Fur – Global Movement

PETA (“People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals”) is respected worldwide for its formidable work on behalf of the animals. They are known for putting up messages in the most unconventional manner. One such head-turning campaign was when protestors paraded around carrying simulated skinned animals covered in blood. The PETA protesters screamed slogans like ‘I’d rather go naked than wear fur’ to put-off people from using animal fur for fashion. ‘Luxury’ no longer seemed pretty.

8. Spraying Milk Protest in Belgium

European dairy farmers had for long been suffering the crunch of drop in the prices of milk. But in 2009, around 2,500 European farmers flocked to Brussels to protest against the constant collapse in price rises. Earlier they had created a “milk lake,” pouring thousands of litres of white stuff onto the street. This time they squirted milk straight from the cow’s udder towards the police. The protesters burned hay and tires and threw bottles at police, others pelted officers with chickens. The city has had a history of violent protests by farmers. Caught in the midst of such violence the cow went nerve-wretched and chased people down the street.

7. Scrub The Country’s Flag Clean in Peru

In 2000, Alberto Fujimori was re-elected as the president of Peru. This brought criticism from all corners of the country for Fujimori was unpopular due to his extravagant abuse of power and his use of violence to crush his opponents. Some Peruvian women taking the matter in their hands gathered in Lima’s main plaza regularly to wash the country’s flag that was soiled by dirty politics. The scrubbing of the national flag went on for months unheeded by the authorities until a video emerged showing Fujimori’s ally bribing a legislature. Following this Fujimori fled to Japan from where he resigned the presidency. He was later imprisoned.

6. Dangling From A Hook in Paris

According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) some 100 million sharks are caught in commercial and sports fishing every year and in the past decade several species have decline by more than 80 percent. Alice Newstead, an artist & activist wanted to do something to make people take notice how the sharks are slowly becoming extinct. So she took protesting to the next level by painting her body silver (depicting a shark) then piercing her back with big fish hooks and hoisted herself into the air with the help of on those hooks. Following this she hung from the ceiling of a Paris boutique for an agonising 15 minutes.

5. Moon The Balloon in Canada

An American surveillance balloon was placed floating above the US/Canadian border with the intention of stopping people from illegally crossing the border into the US from Canada. Though it was seen as an attempt to invade into people’s privacy, the surveillance cameras didn’t have to wait too long to make the invasion. A group of 200 Canadians decided to protest against by pulling down their pants and exposing their bottoms toward the cameras therefore “mooning” the balloon.

4. I Am Now A URL! in Usa

Jennifer Thornburg was disturbed on having to dissect a live animal at her science class at school. She was an intern at PETA and wanted to draw attention at this casual inhumanity. She went out and protested by legally changing her name to Cutout Dissection.com. The URL exists for real, of a website that vehemently protests scientific dissections of animals. Her driving license now reads ‘Dissection.com, Cutout’! Following this, her school started allowing students who were opposed to animal dissection to opt out.

3. The Pink Chaddi Campaign in India

In June 2009, activists of Sri Ram Sena, a right wing Hindu activist group, justified their attack on a pub in Mangalore, saying that the people inside – especially the woman- were tainting Indian culture. The founder of Sri Ram Sena, Pramod Muthalik threatened to marry off couples who were found romancing outdoors on Valentine’s Day. In response a group of young women defining themselves as ‘Consortium of Pub-going, Loose, and Forward Women’, initiated the Pink Chaddi campaign whereby supporters send in 2,000 pink underwear to Muthalik’s office on Valentine’s Day. (The term Chaddi literally means underwear and ironically chaddiwallah is also a term used to identify Sri Ram Sena cadres after the khaki shorts they wore). Later the embarrassed Muthalik, who was by then put on house arrest, rescinded his statements.

2. Chopping Off My Penis To Protest in Egypt

In a lazy Sunday, a 25-year-old young man named Sheikh Eissa chopped his penis off in protest against his parents’ choice of bride. He was in love with a woman and wanted to marry her but his parents rejected his love and ordered him to marry another woman. Unable to make his parents understand Eissa took up this drastic step. On discovering Eissa in his room covered with blood he was rushed to the hospital where his condition got stable. However the doctors were unable to reattach his severed testicles.

1. Pissing On President in Paris

FEMEN is a Paris-based self-proclaimed “sextremist” women group who became internationally renowned in December 2013 when they gathered in front of the Ukrainian embassy protesting against restraints on human rights and liberties (like sex trade, anti- abortion laws, the wearing of hijabs etc). The FEMEN protesters bared their breast and placing photographs of Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych on the pavement, urinated on it. President Victor Yanukovych had deployed police forces to suppress a citizens’ protest in Kiev against his trade policies. The five topless activists symbolically attempted to clean up Ukraine in a ‘natural way’!