Naked Russian Activist Pyotr Pavlensky Cuts Off Earlobe With Kitchen Knife In Act Of Protest

Controversial Russian artist and political activist Pyotr Pavlensky made quite a stir on Sunday when he cut off his earlobe in public with a kitchen knife.

He was sitting naked atop the roof of Moscow’s Serbsky psychiatric center at the time.

In a statement posted on his wife’s Facebook page, Pavlensky said that the act of mutilation had been done to protest the use of psychiatric treatment on political dissidents. The slicing off of his earlobe, he said, was meant to symbolize the destruction that’s caused by police “returning to the use of psychiatry for political goals.”

According to RT.com, Pavlensky carried out his protest in below-freezing temperatures. He was reportedly removed from the roof by police officers, who took him to a hospital for treatment.

Source: Huffingtonpost