Police confront students at Fringe over nude bodysuits with Trump quotes

Police were called to confront four Bristol students promoting their Fringe show after a man complained their outfits were "inappropriate".

The female students took to the Royal Mile wearing nude bodysuits covered in Donald Trump quotes about women.

Unfazed by the words covering the bodysuits, it was the amount of skin showing and nude colouring the complainer found to be "unacceptable". The performers told The Edinburgh Tab the officer suggested the group move on, but "completely understood" the irony of the man's complaint.

The bold move was part of an effort to promote the students' Fringe play Beauty is Pain, which is centred around Trump's support for pageants such as Miss USA. It also features the growth of the #MeToo movement.

The students invited passers-by to pick other degrading quotes about women out of a hat and guess which politician had said it. Some of the quotes were from Boris Johnson.

Director and Writer Pippa Adamthwaite-Cook told The Edinburgh Tab: "The police officer initially wanted us to move on, suggesting it was the best thing to do in this situation as we were upsetting a man.

"However, we stood our ground and instead of calling it quits we explained the irony of the man's complaint, what our show is all about and why our message is so important.

"The police officer was fantastic, he completely understood what we were saying and left us to get on with things."

She continued: "It's ridiculous that across the Royal Mile men perform in tiny speedos to no complaints, yet when a group of women act to promote our rights and safety, this sort of thing happens."

Pippa asked the police officer if she could speak with the man in question about his concerns. The policeman said the man wished to remain anonymous.

The students were allowed to continue advertising their play and have returned to the Royal Mile today.

The girls have attracted a lot of interest in the media, and have already featured in The Times among many other publications.

Pippa told The Edinburgh Tab: "The key takeaway from this incident was the power a simple conversation can have.

"Just by talking to the policeman about how unfair the complaint was and why our advertising is supposed to be striking, we averted any further issues and could get on with promoting our important message."

Beauty is Pain will be shown at Paradise in Vault from the 19 – 25th August. You can purchase tickets to see it here.