Abstract

Wedding dresses were displayed around Beirut to protest a law that would allow rapists to avoid conviction if they marry their victims
CREDIT: Nabil Mounzer/Rex
Corpse brides 
Protesting against a legal loophole that allowed rapists to avoid conviction if they married their victims, Lebanese group Abaad hung more than 30 wedding dresses along the capital’s famous seafront in April 2017. The dresses were hung from nooses on Beirut’s Corniche in a protest against Article 522 of the penal code. After the charity’s campaigning, the law was repealed in August 2017.
Marching to the exit 
Every year since his death in 1987, neo-Nazis from across Europe commemorate Rudolf Hess by descending on the German town of Wunsiedel, where he was buried, even though his remains have since been exhumed. Tired of this, the town created a charity campaign. For every metre marched in 2014, €10 ($12) would be donated to EXIT-Deutschland, an NGO dedicated to helping people leave fascist groups. It ended up raising €10,000 ($11,725).
The duck of all jokes 
Leaked emails revealed that Asma al-Assad, wife of Syrian president, referred to her husband as “batta”, Arabic for “duck”. Activists started to circulate images of him with his face imposed on ducks and dressed up as ducks in the streets.
Cream of the protest crop 
In January 2017, the milk hit the fan in Brussels after dairy farmers covered a European Council building in tonnes of milk powder to protest against falling dairy prices. This was one of many clashes with officials over the falling price of milk. The situation for dairy farmers remains uncertain, despite the EU offering hundreds of millions of euros to help resolve it.
