Waterloo Regional Police say they’re conducting a review into why an officer pulled over three topless female cyclists on the weekend.

“It’s not an illegal thing to do,” Staff-Sgt. Mike Haffner said in an interview on Tuesday.

“It’s the law,” Haffner said. “If people choose to go topless, they can do it.”

Sisters Alysha Brilla, 26, Nadia Mohamed, 24, and Tameera Mohamed, 22, were cycling together topless in the city on Friday after 9 pm when an officer in a cruiser with flashing lights pulled them over.

Brilla said in an interview the male officer ordered them to put their shirts on.

Brilla said she replied: “We don’t need to put our shirts on.”

“He said, ‘Yes you do. That’s the law,’” Brilla said.

Brilla said she told the officer they were doing nothing illegal.

In 1991, former University of Guelph student Gwen Jacob won a legal battle for the right to appear in public topless.

“My sisters were nervous,” said Brilla, a Juno award-nominated musician and women’s rights advocate.

She said it was a hot, humid night and they passed several men who were shirtless.

“We even passed a female cop,” Brilla said. “She had absolutely no problem with us. She just ushered us through.”

She said the male officer in the cruiser told them there had been complaints from parents with children.

“It was already dark outside,” Brilla said in an interview. “There were no children around. It was late at night.”

She said they all had legal helmets, bells and lights and that she filmed much of the incident on her cell phone.

They didn’t get a ticket, but Brilla said she and her sisters are filing a formal complaint about the police conduct.

“We’re conducting an internal review of the circumstances of the incident,” Haffner said.

In response to the incident, the sisters have organized the “Bare with Us: Top Freedom Rally” for Saturday in Waterloo.

In a Facebook page, they encourage supporters to reveal “as much or as little of their torso as they feel comfortable (please wear sunscreen though) in solidarity to support women’s right to be topless in public, and also to show support for desexualizing women’s breasts.”

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On her Facebook page, Brilla posted: “Just so everyone knows; this was not a ‘publicity stunt’. We cycled at night. It was meant to be a bonding experience for the three of us . . . I didn’t know we would encounter the police. It has blown up quite a lot.”

Brilla said she hopes the rally will raise awareness about gender inequality on issues far beyond toplessness, including domestic violence and wage equality.

“Breasts have never been a shameful thing in our family,” Brilla said in an interview. “It’s about more than the issue of toplessness.”