UK police have been accused of sexually assaulting female anti-fracking protesters, including groping and exposing their their breasts while placing them under arrest, reports The Guardian . “I’ve seen women have their tops, as they’ve been restrained or dragged, their tops are deliberately pulled up so that their breasts and bras are exposed … I’ve seen girls pulled by their hair, if they’ve got hair in ponytails and stuff like that,” said one 45-year-old female protester. According to a report by a team of academics who studied three years of anti-fracking demonstrations, female protesters were treated more physically than male protesters. “These tactics have been understood by protesters as an exercise of power and have left women feeling violated and frightened,” said researchers from Liverpool John Moores University, the University of York and the School of Advanced Study at the University of London. In addition to groping and humiliation, […]