BRAZIL: Rio cracks down on public urination during Carnival

Record ID: 537111

  • Title: BRAZIL: Rio cracks down on public urination during Carnival
  • Date: 16th February 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) REVELLER LEONARDO MARQUES, SAYING: "It's a good thing (to ban public urination), but they have to put toilets on the streets. There are several areas with street parties and many lack toilets." POLICE GUARDS WATCHING PARTY VARIOUS OF MAN URINATING ON TREE AND A SOLDIER WALKING TOWARDS THE TREE, WHERE ANOTHER MAN WAS GOING TO URINATE STREET CARNIV
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA7SXR202D01XKO8RFG6Q28I27A
  • Story Text: In Rio Carnivals past, revellers could relieve themselves of the pressure built up by dozens of beers without looking behind their shoulders. Not anymore.
    Now, police are arresting people caught peeing on walls or gutters during Carnival's huge street parties.
    Every year, the self-styled world's biggest festivity in the Brazilian beach-side city brings with it the pungent perfume conjured up by thousands of beer-soaked revellers relieving themselves on the street.
    At the biggest parties, Rio's chronic lack of public bathrooms, copious amounts of beer and the general carefree abandon of Carnival conspire to create rivers of urine that can shock the uninitiated.
    City officials are now calling time on the yellow tide, which they say is a top complaint of Carnival visitors. Eager to clean up Rio's act ahead of the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, the city is slapping public pee-ers with fines and even jail time of up to two years.
    Local media reports said over 280 revellers, including women, had been arrested in the city for urinating in forbidden areas.
    While most people agree with the harsh measures, many complain about the lack of public bathrooms in the party areas.
    "I think the mayor is right, but he is not offering us the proper structure. There are ten toilets for 20,000 people. At some point you get drunk and you ask yourself, 'where will I go?'. You either pee in your pants or go on the street. So the structure has to be better," said reveller Thiago Marini.
    Reveller Leticia Dianela said she heard several complaints about long bathroom lines.
    "This year, since I brought my daughter along, I'm not drinking much so I'm not using much the bathroom. But everyone is complaining a lot about the lines (for chemical toilets). Even the girls often wear skirts and find a hidden spot, behind a car or something," she said.
    Thiago Marques said more toilets are needed to prevent people from peeing on the street.
    "It's a good thing (to ban public urination), but they have to put toilets on the streets. There are several areas with street parties and many lack toilets," he said, holding a beer.
    But city officials announced they had quadrupled the number of chemical toilets to 4,000 to give revellers a fighting chance of urinating legally.
    The policy is part of a broader attempt to bring Rio's unruly elements to order as the city prepares to show its best face to the world for the huge sporting events.
    But even with most partiers trying to respect the new rules, the huge lines for chemical toilets lead a growing number of people into alleys to relieve themselves.
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