Naked protest

Some men who saw a protest by two naked women against a sexually motivated assault said the victims ‘‘were asking for it’’, according to the founder of a charity that supports survivors of domestic violence. On Friday, Auckland performance artist Jazmine Rose Phillips stood naked hand-in-hand with friend Kyah Dove in central Auckland’s Karangahape Rd, covered in fake blood and with black tape over their mouths. Phillips said a man assaulted the pair after they rejected his sexual advances in the area on January 21. She said police did not take the couple’s complaints about the incident seriously. Jackie Clark, of The Aunties, said that while most passersby were respectful, she ‘‘scared off two perverts’’. Police said on Saturday they would be contacting the two women.