Nudists in Paris will soon be able to shed their clothes without fear of arrest, as city council members have approved plans for an official park for naked people.
A campaigner working on the project told CNN the exact location is yet to be decided, but it will likely be near Lac Daumesnil in the southeast of the city.
A spokesman for Deputy Mayor of Paris Bruno Julliard, who has supported the plan, confirmed it was approved in principle Monday at a meeting of the city council.
The proposal was put forward by the Green Party of Paris.
In a written submission to the city council, environmentalists from the party said France is a top world destination for nudists, with two million Germans, Dutch, British and Belgians coming to the country to take their clothes off.
They added that there are 155 naturist holiday centers in France.
Going au naturel is increasingly popular in the French capital, but public nudity is against the law and can be punished by a $15,000 fine or up to one year in prison.
There is only one location in the city that allows private nudist events — the Roger Le Gall swimming pool in the 12th arrondissement — and it’s restricted to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
Jacques Frimont, vice president of the Vice-President of the Association for the Promotion of Naturism in Liberty (APNEL) told CNN: “It is getting too small and the pool is closed in summer. We are about 1,000 members and our numbers are increasing.”
He is working on the project to make a bigger venue available to those who want to skinny dip.
“We don’t have an exact location just yet, but we are thinking of Lac Daumesnil,” he said.
“There’s water, and we will be able to take our towels and lay down. Hopefully we will be able to settle there during the summer of 2017.”
The government already has plans to turn the lake into a public swimming zone.
Denis Porquet, a member of the Nudist Association of Paris committee (ANP) told the French newspaper 20 Minutes that the pool is too small — and closed in the summer.
Porquet said there were 150 people there on the evening of September 21 and the venue is too cramped.
Frimont told 20 Minutes that nudity should not be associated with anything unseemly.
“We contest this vigorously. A sexual pervert is someone who disturbs his neighbors by masturbating in public, for example,” he said. “A nudist only wants to get rid of their clothes.”
