Most Americans are unaware of the fact that March 8th marks International Women’s Day. Today, Google has even changed their logo so that more Americans could become aware of this fine day. Europeans, on the other hand, may not necessarily celebrate the day, but are very aware of its significance. March 8th is a national holiday in many European states, especially Eastern European. To mark this day, FEMEN’s most renown activists, Inna and Alexandra Shevchenko, along with two others traveled to Istanbul, Turkey in order to protest the Muslim treatment of women.

These incredibly beautiful ladies smeared a paste like substance on their face in order to portray the plight of women who have been brutalized by Muslim men. This paste gave their face the appearance of being burned by Sulfuric Acid (H2SO4), and hence the title of their protest, H2SO4 Cocktail. The ladies held up signs like “Stop the Barbarians” and “Stop the Acid Attacks” in a hope that at least someone would acknowledge the evil.

While Turkey isn’t overly accepting of such crimes against women, the fact that it is predominantly Muslim gives it a good platform location for the protest. FEMEN, in fact, call on the governments of Southern Asia to condemn such brutal acts of violence towards women and prosecute the men who commit them with the full wrath of the law.

It is also important to note how brave the FEMEN activists are to penetrate a predominantly Muslim nation, then go topless in protest. Such acts are vehemently opposed by Muslim fundamentalists and the women faced the possibility of a violent backlash by the public. The Turkish police were quick to detain the ladies, possibly avoiding such a backlash, but the girls fate may not be in good hands. There is currently no public word on the ladies condition with all ties to the activists severed. If you, or any close to you, can influence the Istanbul police in order to guarantee a quick release of the ladies, please do so. I will be sure to update this thread as information of the ladies becomes apparent.

All images and video were taken from FEMEN’s blog.