01.01.70
(CNN) -- Malawian women protested Friday to consumer an end to attacks on those who were stripped naked on the streets for wearing pants, leggings and miniskirts, as a substitute for of dresses.
Street vendors accused women of defying cultural norms and attacked them this week in Lilongwe and Blantyre, two of the polity's largest cosmopolitan centers.
"They beat them up and stripped them naked, claiming they did not go the tradition," said Seodi White, a rights activist and protest organizer. "Attacking women in trousers is an savagery. We are a democracy, they're taking us back to the dark ages."
Protesters wore pants, miniskirts and leggings in a show of comradeship as they gathered to condemn the attacks.
Others wore white T-shirts that said: "Today we buy your merchandize, tomorrow you sack us naked!" Written in the local Chichewa language, the words were a testimonial to the vendors carrying out the attacks, organizers said.
"Women have a well to wear what they want," White said by phone from a protest in the commercial outstanding of Blantyre. "This is an embarrassment to our nation and an outright contempt for women.
Source: CNN International