Mayor to print photos to deter prostitution

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian town's mayor hopes to shame men into not using prostitutes by photographing cars that pick them up and publishing the details in local newspapers.

Cesare De Martin, mayor of the northern town of San Fior near Venice, said on Friday he planned to give local police digital cameras and instruct them to photograph any cars seen stopping to liaise with prostitutes on the side of the street.

Advertisements in local newspapers with the number plates will then be published, he said.

The number of prostitutes on Italian streets has increased dramatically in recent years and the Vatican earlier this week called for new laws to punish clients of prostitution.

The mayor, however, said his reasons for tackling the issue were entirely "secular" and far more mundane.

"I think it's more important to protect the rights of citizens who have to be at work early but are kept up at night by the sound of cars," he told Reuters.

He is awaiting approval from lawyers on whether the plan violates privacy laws.

Clients of prostitutes are not punished in many countries, including Italy. Italian law effectively turns a blind eye to prostitution, punishing only "exploiters of prostitution," meaning pimps.

Many of the growing number of prostitutes in Italy come from the former Soviet Union or Nigeria and authorities say many are victims of human trafficking.