[05
JAN 01] FREEDOM TO BE YOURSELF CAMPAIGN NEWS
Naked Coventry Protestors Show Court Solidarity
A
Coventry nudity campaigner has performed a chilly strip outside a
London court in support of his colleague Vincent Bethell.
Richard
Chaffer, aged 24, an artist from Coventry was part of a group of three
outside Southwark Crown Court.
The
campaigners waved placards with the words "Skin",
"Naked criminal", and "How we look". They paraded
in the cold weather for several minutes.
Bethell,
aged 28, was naked in the dock while legal arguments concerning his
case were carried out. He has been held in solitary confinement while
on remand because of his refusal to wear clothes in prison.
Fellow
protestor Mr Chaffer braved the biting wind to launch his protest.
He
said:
“We
are trying to highlight the fact that someone has been imprisoned
merely for having a body."
"What
we all have in common is a human skin and we are trying to change
the public perception of the human body, trying to create a better
society for people."
A
colleague from Bedfordshire agreed, while a third protestor, who also
comes from Coventry wore a scarf around his face to remain anonymous.
Bethell,
of Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry, denies one charge of causing a
public nuisance between 14 July and 22 August last year "by being
naked in a public place and refusing to clothe himself".
The
allegation covers six alleged incidents between those dates.
|
