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Topless sisters stopped by Kitchener officer go bare-chested whenever they can

Alysha Mohamed, who goes by the stage name Alysha Brilla, and her two sisters were stopped by police for riding their bikes topless last Friday in Kitchener, Ont.

One of three Ontario sisters stopped by Kitchener police last week for riding their bikes topless says that she, her siblings and their mother exercise their right to go topless whenever they can.

That’s what got Tameera Mohamed and her sisters, Alysha and Nadia, pulled over by police during their bike ride from Waterloo to Kitchener on a hot Friday evening, and that’s why they’re organizing a protest to raise awareness about women’s rights in Ontario.

It’s the latest incident of bare-chested females. In June, an eight-year-old girl who was playing at a Guelph wading pool without a bikini top was told by a lifeguard to cover up, citing city policy that prohibits girls over the age of four from going topless at public water parks. A change.org petition was soon launched in an effort to change the policy.

In the Kitchener incident, Mohamed tells Yahoo Canada News, “He told us to put our shirts back on and that it was illegal to have shirts off.”

The sister told him that it was their legal right to be topless, a right that’s been in place since 1996, after the Ontario Court of Appeal reversed the conviction of Gwen Jacobs, a Guelph university student, who was charged with indecency for walking topless on a hot summer day.

Mohamed and her sisters were then told that there had been complaints about their exposed breasts, which they countered.

“We told him we don’t care if there’s complaints, it’s our legal right,” Mohamed says. Alysha then started filming the officer, who tells them on camera that he’s stopped them to check if they have bells and lights on their bike. The sisters eventually left and are in the process of filing a complaint with the police watchdog, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director.

The sisters, along with their mother, prefer to go topless whenever they can, says Mohamed, particularly when they’re at the beach or tubing on the river. They organized the rally, which is set for Saturday in Waterloo, as a way to raise awareness about women’s right to go topless as well as desexualizing women’s breasts.

Mohamed says there’s been a lot of support, but there’s also been a fair share of sexist and racist messages because of their outspokenness. As someone who’s involved in social justice and identifies as a feminist, Mohamed says organizing the rally is just an extension of what she does. She hopes it will educate the public and the police about the current laws concerning women’s rights.

“It’s been 24 years since Gwen Jacobs changed the law in Ontario and yet we’re still having issues,” she says. “Society doesn’t seem ready for it. We need to educate people on their rights.”

A spokesman with Waterloo Regional Police Service wasn’t immediately available for comment.