Paris - Thousands of uninhibited men and women went the extra mile to make their environmental point on Saturday, riding naked on bicycles through cities as diverse as London, 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".
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Most of the 400 people, including 160 on bikes, gathered for the Paris event decided that discretion was the better part of valour and fearing arrest redonned clothes and dispersed.
'They are paying lip service to the problem' 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.
In London, 700 cyclists in various states of undress were reported to have gambolled through central London in another leg of the World Naked Bike Ride, while similar events happened in Manchester, Southampton and York.
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 10km.
"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."
In Madrid, not known to be a biker's paradise, about 300 cyclists took part in a good-humoured parade through the heart of the city.
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