Hundreds of lawyers registered to defend two women charged with "indecent exposure" for wearing "provocative" dresses at a market in Morocco, AFP reported Tuesday.
The two women, who could face up to two years in prison for the charges, went on trial Monday while demonstrators took to the streets in Rabat to protest their arrest.
The women, 23 and 29, were joined with 500 lawyers defending them, said Fouzia Assouli, head of women's rights organization LDDF. The courtroom only had room for 200.
The hairdressers were arrested in the southern city of Agadir in June for walking through a marketplace with the dresses. The police report said the women were wearing dresses that were "too tight," which sparked a backlash in the conservative Muslim country.
Sidai Bakar, one of the lawyers who showed up, said the trial was a "chance for our country to amend its laws to conform with its commitments to human rights and especially individual freedoms," according to AFP.
