Rabat - A number of Algerians launched an online protest, posting pictures of their exposed legs, in response to a decision to ban a female student from taking an exam because of her short skirt.

Aziz Allilou is a student at the Higher Institute of Media and Communications (ISIC) and Morocco World News correspondent in Rabat.

Rabat – A number of Algerians launched an online protest, posting pictures of their exposed legs, in response to a decision to ban a female student from taking an exam because of her short skirt.

On May 9, the Faculty of Law at the University of Algiers prevented a female student from entering the classroom to take an exam because of the length of her skirt.

Speaking to local media, the Dean of the University of Algiers’ Faculty of Law supported the supervisor that banned the student from taking the exam.

“The student violated the School Code. Wearing a short skirt in not authorized inside the university,” said the dean, according to Tsa-Algerie news website.

Angered with the unversity’s policy, Algerian filmmaker Sophia Jama created the Facebook Page Ma dignité n’est pas dans la longueur de ma jupe, which translates to “My Dignity is not in the Length of My skirt.”

Sophia Jama also started a Photo Album called “Angry legs”, which contains selfies of the bare legs of people taking part in the online protest. Since then, the photo album has gone viral.

“What happened to that student was very harsh. She was humiliated,” Sophia told France24.

“I did not want to let her feel alone in front of this problem. Thus, I decided to start a Facebook Page in solidarity with her,” she added.

Sophia went on to add that she asked Algerians via the page to send her their pictures with bare legs, and was surprised to see the large number of pictures she received from both men and women in a short period of time.

“Woman’s body has become a battle field in Algeria.” the Algeria filmmaker explains.

“And if we keep silent, we women will lose a lot from our gains, regarding our freedom in public places,” she concluded.