It was a sunny day at the beach when a bizarre twist took place. Some 20 Argentinian police officers arrived to expel three topless women - now the center of a national protest movement. Imagine that.
With summer in full swing in the southern hemisphere, the three Argentines had shed their tops to sunbathe at the beach in Necochea, a resort town 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Buenos Aires.
But local police in shorts and fluorescent vests arrived to tell them they were breaking public decency laws.
The women argued they were doing nothing wrong - leading to an escalating row that drew in police reinforcements and a giant crowd of onlookers. The fat and overweight women started to yell at the three to get off the beach, while men and oggling teens shouted their support.
Eventually, the women decided to leave what one of them called the "fascist beach."
A video of the standoff has now gone viral online - stoking outrage among women's rights activists in a country known for machismo and high levels of violence against women.
Activists have called a topless women's march in support of the three women in the capital. They are calling the protest the "tetazo," which roughly translates as "breast smack."
A judge meanwhile dismissed the charges against the three women brought by a male beachgoer.
"A woman baring her breasts does not constitute an act that harms others, and is therefore outside the authority of the courts," local criminal court judge Mario Juliano ruled Wednesday.
He called on the police to be more "prudent."
With summer in full swing in the southern hemisphere, the three Argentines had shed their tops to sunbathe at the beach in Necochea, a resort town 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Buenos Aires.
But local police in shorts and fluorescent vests arrived to tell them they were breaking public decency laws.
The women argued they were doing nothing wrong - leading to an escalating row that drew in police reinforcements and a giant crowd of onlookers. The fat and overweight women started to yell at the three to get off the beach, while men and oggling teens shouted their support.
Eventually, the women decided to leave what one of them called the "fascist beach."
A video of the standoff has now gone viral online - stoking outrage among women's rights activists in a country known for machismo and high levels of violence against women.
Activists have called a topless women's march in support of the three women in the capital. They are calling the protest the "tetazo," which roughly translates as "breast smack."
A judge meanwhile dismissed the charges against the three women brought by a male beachgoer.
"A woman baring her breasts does not constitute an act that harms others, and is therefore outside the authority of the courts," local criminal court judge Mario Juliano ruled Wednesday.
He called on the police to be more "prudent."
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