Paris introduces "car-free" day to promote environmental protection

Paris has banned private cars from its central area for seven hours on Sunday in a bid to promote the fight against pollution and climate change.


From 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) to 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) local time, all private cars (with few exceptions) were forbidden to drive on the streets of the French capital. Drivers who disobeyed the ban would be fined 135 euros (about 159 US dollars).

Paris started to observe such an event since 2015 but Sunday's ban is the first time that private transport was forbidden in the entire center of Paris, which covers about 100 square km.

The municipal government said it had mobilized nearly 1,000 police officers to patrol the streets. But the goal is "not to sanction," it said.
 [globaltimes.cn/Xinhua]
 2/10/17