People peeing on the street is an age-old problem in Paris - and it appears to have finally got the attention of authorities.
The City Hall has been busy slapping €68 fines on those caught with their pants down, with 5,381 people nabbed in 2017 alone.
That marks a 165 percent increase in the number of fines doled out for the same violation in 2016.
This increase is partly due to a crackdown on street-peeing, but is also thanks to the huge increase in the number of “civility police” working for the city, who now number 3,200 (up from just 96 in 2015).
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has spoken of the city’s “zero tolerance” approach to littering and street-peeing in the past, and is now carrying out experiments with new eco-friendly urinals, known as "Uritrottoir" (a blend of the verb uriner and the French word for pavement).
Three of these urinals have been installed across the city (near the Moulin Rouge, the Gare de Lyon, and the Jardin des Plantes).
The urinals feature the usual basin for weeing into but also a pot of flowers to give a more pleasant look than the usual grey, overflowing street urinals that dot the Paris' black spots for street peeing (known as "pipi sauvage" in French).
Photo: AFP
According to the creators it allows the needy to "Pisse in Peace."
An experimental anti-peeing mirror has placed near a bar on rue Saint-Quentin in the 10th arrondissement, which is supposed to discourage men from relieving themselves by letting them see exactly what they are doing.
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There were 108,000 fines of €68 handed out in 2017, a 149 percent increase on the previous year. Almost 45,000 of these were for littering in public, while nearly 25,000 were for tossing cigarette butts.
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