Activists with the radical feminist group Femen staged a topless demonstration in support of a campaign to allow Saudi women to drive cars.

Four "sextremists" - as Femen calls its members - stripped off their tops and chanted slogans outside the Saudi Arabia embassy in Berlin in support of a campaign to overturn the driving ban - the only one of its kind in the world.

The activists emerged from a car outside the embassy gates to unveil placards reading: "Camels for men, cars for women!" and "Faster than your development."

The four women exposed the slogans "No woman no drive" and "Freedom has no limits" emblazoned across their naked chests painted in green, the colour of the Saudi flag.

"Femen activists have supported the initiative of the freedom-loving women of Saudi Arabia with the roar of automobile engines and smoke from the tyres," Femen said.

The stunt followed a demonstration by 60 women in Saudi Arabia who openly flouted the law by driving through the streets.

Dozens of videos and photos of the defiant campaign were posted on the web.

No specific regulation bans Saudi women from driving but they cannot apply for licences. More than 17,000 people signed a petition for the ban to be overturned.

Femen has carried out a number of high-profile protests across Europe including topless marches in Paris and an ambush of Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a pro-abortion raid at the Spanish parliament.