This weekend Val-d'Oise, France, hosted the third "Salon Musulman" (Muslim Salon). This year, the series of lectures and demonstrations was dedicated to the theme of women.
The conference was to feature a talk by controversial Muslim leaders Mehdi Kabir and Nader Abu Anas, on the theme of "Women's valuation in Islam."
Prior to the event, a petition had been created opposing their attendance.
On Saturday evening, during the imams' speech, two members of feminist protest group Femen took to the stage shouting, "Nobody enslaves me, nobody owns me, I'm my own prophet."
According to the AFP, the women walked onstage after the two imams began debating whether or not you should hit your wife.
However, BuzzFeed France was present at the event and saw the two women interrupting as Medhi Kabi was asking Muslims “to follow the example of the Prophet, who never slapped his wife.” Audio of this can be heard below.
A video appears to show the one of the women being kicked as she is removed from the stage.
The women were later arrested.
Femen used a Facebook post to justify their action:
Two FEMEN activists came today to crash the big slavery fair party and to denounce this womanophobia – with no amalgam. Our topless djihadists appeared on stage in front of Nader Abou Anas and Mehdi Kebir, misogynists disciples of Allah, to scream loud and clear : "No one can enslave me, no one can possess me, I am my own prophet!". The two activists (both coming from muslim families) rised their voices of hundreds of women, feminists, and associations, all disgusted by this public hate speeches. It was our duty to interrupt this enslavement event, and to let a scream of freedom be heard in the middle of their submission lessons.
FEMEN is calling to a mass opposition against the uprising of those womanophobe integrisms and to a strong answer from our institutions.
Womanophobia is illegal.
Sexism is a kind of racism.
Modern slavery is a crime.
Let's condemn them together, and let's remind them without ever loosing any once of strength :
No one can enslave me, no one can possess me, I am my own prophet!