Algerian women protest demanding equal rights

Several Algerian women took to the streets to protest against a family code they consider demeaning, as they marked International Women's Day in the conservative country.

The family code was adopted in 1984 and is drawn from Islamic Sharia law and which stipulates about property ownership.

Several women chanted slogans and scuffled with security in the capital Algiers. "The struggle for a free democratic Algeria cannot be divided and separated at all from the struggle for equality between men and women. As you notice Algerian women have taken to the streets with all courage to say that they exist and will remain present until they get a response to their constant struggle," Futah Sadat who is also a lawyer told AFP reporters. Feminists in Algerian have termed the law biased and limiting because it renders women as minors compared to men.

The women protests took place as thousands of people also demonstrated across the country, confirming the remobilization of the Hirak protest movement again in the streets since the second anniversary of the uprising on February 22.

"We took to the streets today as free Algerian women; To prove our covenant and renew our promise to this people that as we stood with the free people in the liberation revolution, here we are today standing with the Hirak and continuing to help every free person, hand in hand and side by side," a protester said.