Topless 'Pussy Riot' Supporter Chops Down Cross With Chainsaw In Support Of Russian Punks

Inna Shevchenko, a member of the women's rights activist group Femen, wore only pink denim shorts and boots as she took a chainsaw to the cross in Independence Square, near the Oktyabrsky Palace in Kiev. The words "Free Riot" were written in paint across her chest and her arms. Soon after chopping down the cross, Shevchenko took pictures in front of it, imitating Jesus' pose on crucifixes.

Photos of Shevchenko surfaced on the Internet and can be seen below. They are, obviously, not safe for work.

Shevchenko' protest came as a show of support for Pussy Riot, whose "punk prayer" at Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral landed three band members in prison with a two-year sentence. Femen, the Ukrainian activist group to which she belongs, is well known in Eastern Europe for their topless shock protests in support of women's issues. Many have seen Pussy Riot's incarceration as the silencing of feminist, anti-Putin voices in Russia.

The cross was erected in 2005 as a memorial to the victims of Joseph Stalin's regime, specifically those who starved to death in the famine which struck the Soviet Union in the 1930s. It stood four meters high and bore a crucifix on the side overlooking the city street.

Soon after Shevchenko took down the cross, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, the three members of Pussy Riot found guilty in Moscow and sentenced to two years in prison after their guerrilla performance caused an uproar in Russia.