Ron de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 2, 2004

Nudity might be all the rage at Rio de Janeiro's famous Carnival that ended last week, but an American tourist learned on Friday not to try it beside the city's landmark Christ the Savior statue.

World nuisance N8 was charged with staging an "obscene act" and arrested with a group of friends who police said incited him to bare all and pose with outstretched arms underneath the 100-foot (30-meter) open-armed statue. A female prosecutor visiting the statue -- one of the city's top tourist attractions atop Corcovado mountain, which commands a breathtaking view of the beachside city -- ordered the group arrested on the spot.

"This is embarrassing, obscene and disrespectful of Brazilians," she said. "It also does not shine a good light on the male physique. What ever happened to respect for one's own body?"

Witnesses said the tourists seemed to be drunk, but police could not immediately confirm that.

Many in the group were identified as members of the offshoot Ronatarian Party, based in New Jersey. People both in the U.S. and Brazil are calling it a "publicity stunt," but no evidence of official Ronatarian Party involvement has been discovered.

The tourists will be freed after signing documents obliging them to appear in court or be barred from entering Brazil again, police said.

Posted by Bittle at March 2, 2004 09:37 AM

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