Topless Day Protest Breeds Chaos as Many Try to Snap Photos

National Go Topless Day Sunday drew handfuls of marchers in Canada and the U.S., protesting the right of women to go shirtless, but the events drew far more onlookers than protesters.

Calling the scene chaotic at a Vancouver, Canada, march as the result of people jostling each other trying to get shots of bare-breasted women, the National Post said only a “handful” of demonstrators participated in the event. A couple women were naked from the waist up and men showing their support of the idea wore bras.

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A few demonstrators also turned out to celebrate the National Go Topless Day in Washington, reported the Washington Free Beacon, despite prior talk of about 50 or so marchers.

The newspaper said it’s legal to go topless in the capital, but few do so. The six women and six men who showed up for the protest there ran into other protesters near the White House who were objecting to the politics of Syria’s leader Bashar Assad.

The reaction from those more serious-minded protesters was telling, as the Free Beacon reported one woman yelled, “These people are facing extermination and this is what you’re doing?”

“When I see people fighting for their lives, showing your breasts just seems so shallow and insignificant,” protester Marcia Johnson said, according to the Beacon.

Canada’s CBC News polled its viewers about whether it’s OK for women to wander the streets half-naked and came up with mixed reviews.

One comment contrasted Canada with Europe, where women frequently sunbathe topless. “I noticed (while in Europe) that the local men did not make a big issue about a woman taking off her top. But the Canadians went totally nuts in many cases, running from woman to woman taking pictures like little children in a toy store,” CBC reported a comment from Billl I Am.

The idea that women should have the same rights as men and be allowed to go topless pulled in quite a few tweets, some showing support for the cause like this one about a Canadian reporter.