MONTREAL — The lawyer for a Montreal woman who staged a topless protest at the city's Grand Prix festivities in 2015 is asking for a stay of proceedings against her client.
Veronique Robert told a Montreal courtroom today that the way private security agents detained activist Neda Topaloski was violent and constituted an illegal arrest.
Topaloski is a member of the international feminist group, Femen, whose members advocate for women's rights by staging topless protests around the world.
She is on trial in municipal court facing charges of mischief and disturbing the peace in relation to her June 2015 protest.
Topaloski says members of the Grand Prix's security team dragged her roughly along the pavement by her hands and feet and stepped on her hair after she climbed onto a car.
Her two-day trial ends Thursday.