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Sun, 20 August 2023
Participants from the World Naked Bike Ride near Lyon in France
Seven stages of the so-called “nude Tour de France” were banned for public indecency in restrictions which climate activists said was “state intimidation”.
The cyclists are taking part in the World Naked Bike Ride, an annual event launched in 2004 in London and which last year crossed the capital without raising eyebrows. However, since the tour kicked off in Nantes, western France, on Aug 8, local authorities have prohibited seven stages by decree.
Those blocking the tour have cited the penal code that “equates nudism to sexual exhibitionism on the public causeway,” said François Feunteun, president of Le Mouvement Naturiste (The Nudism Movement), which is organising the ride. Public indecency is punishable by up to a year in prison and a €15,000 (£12,800) fine in France.
Undeterred participants
Undeterred, the bikers sought to press ahead with their tour to raise awareness for climate change, biodiversity and nudism. But at the start of one stage in Millau near Clermont-Ferrand, central France, police barred the nude peloton and arrested Mr Feunteun, 59.
“In France, when you want to talk about the serious risks the planet is facing, you get treated like an ecoterrorist and sexual delinquent,” he said.
Mr Feunteun criticised his arrest as a form of “state intimidation” and a blatant attempt to dissuade the 15 or so participants from continuing.
“In London, they brought together 5,000 people without any problem. And it’s been the same in all the democratic countries of the world,” he told Le Figaro, the French newspaper, adding that he intends to file for legal action. “The only bans have been in dictatorships and very religious countries.”
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