Three women who took a massive plastic vagina to a protest are on trial in Spain

Three Spanish women who carried a two-metre sculpture of a vagina to a protest march are to go on trial after lawyers accused the trio of "religious hate crimes".

The women took to the streets of Seville to protest against gender discrimination in the workplace in May 2014. They were protesting during a march organised by the Spanish union the General Workers' Confederation on national Workers' Day.

The group, which calls themselves the "Sisterhood of the blessed rebellious vagina to the exploitation of precariousness", carried the plastic vagina on a plinth.

According to court papers, their demonstration was "in the style of the Virgin Mary".

The case has now been reopened by the National High Court after a previous ruling in favour of the women was overturned on appeal by the Association of Christian Lawyers.

The women face charges of "crimes against religious sentiment".

According to the Association of Christian Lawyers, the women said prayers such as the Hail Mary, replacing lines with "sexual, rude and abusive expressions".

Pastora Filigrana, a lawyer for one of the women, said: "The objective was to reclaim the right to a choice [to have an abortion] as well as to workers' rights. There were no insults to churchgoers nor was the action directed at the Church. There were no crosses."