11 Jun 2007
Naked cyclists in cheeky protest

The World Naked Bike Ride wants to make a point that there are many things more offensive than a bare bum. The real indecent exposure isn't to peoples' rude bits - it's to the fumes that cars pump out into our polluted environment.

On Saturday, over 700 cyclists in various states of undress paraded on bikes and skates through central London in the protest against car dependency. The nude cyclists - and others with strategically-placed body paint, sticky tape or bum bags - began their ride at Hyde Park and finished in Wellington Arch, a route of about 6 miles.

Similar events happened the same day in over 60 cities all over the world also stripped off to make their environmental point, riding naked on bicycles through cities as diverse as Brighton, Paris, Madrid, Montreal and Mexico.

Under the slogan "As Bare As You Dare", protesters felt the wind in their hair - and everywhere else - as they pedalled along demonstrating the risks they face on the roads and the impact that cars have on the environment.

Authorities generally turned a blind eye to one of the world's more outlandish environmental protests, apart from in Paris where five of the unabashed riders were arrested for so-called "sexual exhibition".

Many had turned their bodies into human placards, writing slogans or humorous messages across their stomachs or on their backs. "Warning: fragile!", one said, "Warning: flesh!" another.

"We are seeing an increasing number of stories of melting ice caps and Antarctica crumbling away and no government is doing anything serious about this," said Martin Ireland, one of the riders.

"They are paying lip service to the problem so people have been taking to their bikes, unclothed, to express their feelings about it."

"This is a fun if outrageous way to make the serious point that we should not have to tolerate roads, cities and a planet dominated by the brutishness of cars that routinely foul the air we all breathe, destroy lives and impoverish the environment," said organiser Duncan Blinkhorn, 45.

"We are celebrating our vulnerability as cyclists and human beings but also showing our strength of feeling and strength of numbers.

"Bikes and naked bodies harm nobody. Car fumes and accidents kill tens of thousands every year in the UK alone and are driving us all to climate chaos.

"It is time more motorists stripped off their armour plating and moved around more gently on this earth."