San Francisco Politicians Outlaw Public Nudity

Officials in San Francisco have banned most public nudity - despite protests in the famously free and easy Californian city.

The 6-5 vote means going around fully naked will be prohibited in most public places including streets, pavements and public transport.

City supervisor Scott Wiener introduced the measure after a growing number of complaints about nudity in the city's predominantly gay Castro District.

The area is home to the gay rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and is regarded as one of the most free-thinking neighbourhoods in the famously liberal city.

"Free expression in the abstract is really nice ... until it comes to your neighbourhood," Mr Wiener said. "I guarantee people would not have waited as long as we waited in the Castro."

A small group of protesters had gathered outside City Hall for the meeting and, within seconds of the law being approved, one of the women took her clothes off.

Several other protesters followed her example, with some entering City Hall before coming back outside.

Mr Wiener had said beforehand he expected the measure be approved, while stressing nudity would still be allowed on San Francisco's beaches and at various festivals and parades.

The law will ban anyone over five years old from exposing his or her genitals in public, with fines starting at \$100 (£62) for a first offence, but rising to \$500 (£314) and a year in prison for a third offence.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who will have to approve the measure for it to become law, said he backed the change.

"We're talking about much more than just First Amendment rights. People have gone overboard with their exhibitionism," he said.