VARIOUS: Naked cyclists' environmental protest ride through London and Madrid and Mexico City

Record ID: 481320

  • Title: VARIOUS: Naked cyclists' environmental protest ride through London and Madrid and Mexico City
  • Date: 11th June 2006
  • Summary: (W3)MADRID, SPAIN (JUNE 10, 2006) (REUTERS) GROUP WAIT TO START OFF ON THEIR BIKES POSTER READING CICLONUDISTA 06
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAEXO9STHKFRQZE2EVZCR0D129E
  • Story Text: Hundreds of nude cyclists took to the streets of Mexico City, London and Madrid on Saturday (June 10) to protest against car-clogged streets and demand greater respect for pollution-free transport.
    In Mexico City, the cyclists, some of them entirely nude, rode some 30 kilometres and through the famed Zocalo Square in an effort to encourage people to take up the bike as another mode of transportation while others hoped the nude bike ride would raise the awareness of motorists to share the streets with cyclists.
    "We are protesting against our dependence on oil and the tyranny of the automobile that has kidnapped our Mexico City like many other cities and also, since we have opted to use our bicycles, we ask that motorists respect us, respect urban cycling, respect the cyclists, no more dead cyclists, please," Felipe Fulop, organizer of the even in Mexico City, said.
    In London hundreds of cyclists some naked, some fully clothed and some with colourful body paint gathered at Wellington Arch in Hyde Park to begin their World Naked Bike Ride, riding by some of the most famous buildings the capital.
    "I think people should use bikes a hell of a lot more like they do in Cambridge and in other European countries. I think biking is a really pleasurable experience as it is being naked, so the two together are really fantastic," said a very keen cyclist.
    As the cyclists rode by places like the Houses of Parliament and the Big Ben, tourists on open-roofed double decker buses took photos and cheered them.
    With slogans like "one car less" and "bio methanol" painted on their backs, the naked cyclists staged Madrid's third annual Ciclonudista or "Nudecycle" in Madrid, Barcelona and Pamplona.
    The World Naked Bike Ride event took place in several other cities across Europe, North America and South America.
    "We want the bicycle to be a means of transport in the cities because it is an intelligent form of transport; it's the fastest, the cheapest, the healthiest and benefits all the city," said Madrid cyclist Ramon Linaza, wearing only a cycle helmet and shoes.
    Towing cardboard cars with gaping jaws, protesters said the rapid rise of automobile ownership in Spain was turning city streets into ever more hostile and dangerous cycling territory.
    Organisers said the bicycle was a healthy and efficient form of urban transport that is largely ignored by Spanish drivers and city planners.
    Central Madrid has few bike paths and cyclists are a rarity on its streets. Barcelona has the most bike paths of any Spanish city, according to cycling activists.
    Per capita car ownership has rocketed in Spain after a decade of strong economic growth.
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