No topless sunbathing please say Paris police

French police have warned people to keep their clothes on or face fines and even imprisonment as Parisians and tourists flock to the capital’s parks and river banks to enjoy the August sunshine. 

Reuters/Charles Platiau

A statement posted on the Paris police website outlines the rules for sun worshippers in city parks and at the popular annual Paris Plages where artifical beaches are created with tonnes of sand and hundreds of deckchairs along the Seine river.

Police point out that it is not forbidden "when the thermometer rises a few degrees
to put on your best bathing suit and find a little corner of grass or the welcoming banks of the Seine to put down your towel."

But the notice stipulates that bathing suits should not be worn in official city parks
and that dress should be "decent and in accordance with good morals and public
order."

Those wearing inappropriate dress could be fined at least 38 euros and face fines of up to 3,750 euros and two years in jail if suspected of soliciting sex, police say.

And nudity is strictly forbidden. "Any outfit that allows for the genital area or breasts to be seen constitutes sexual exhibition and is punishable by a year in prison," says the website message.