Ukrainian rights group Femen asks for protection after beatings

Leaders of Femen, the Ukrainian women's rights group known for staging bare-breasted political protests, demanded government protection after two of them and a male associate were assaulted while on holiday in the Black Sea.

The two leaders, Anna Hutsol and Alexandra Shevchenko, and Viktor Svyatskiy, a colleague, were beaten on Saturday outside an apartment building in Odessa.

It was the fifth time in recent weeks that members had been assaulted. Femen says the attacks are part of a campaign to drive it out of the country.

The group called on Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, Vitaliy Zakharchenko, to provide round-the-clock security. "Otherwise Femen activists are in mortal danger," the group wrote, "the responsibility for which will inevitably fall on the security forces of Ukraine".

There was no immediate response from the government.