PARIS: Pretty but noisy Paris, its gracious Old World buildings blackened by exhaust fumes, is going car-less for a day.

Paris  Mayor Anne Hidalgo presided over Sunday’s “day without cars,” two  months before the city hosts the global summit on climate change. The  symbolic initiative is aimed at showing that air pollution from traffic  — a prime source in Paris — must be reduced worldwide and capitals must  take concrete measures to shrink their carbon footprint.

Mayors from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Brussels and Bristol were in Paris for the kick-off on the famed Champs-Elysees Avenue.

The  avenue, normally congested with vehicles, isn’t the only sector of  Paris having a carless moment. Vehicles, including motorised bicycles,  are forbidden in a quarter of the French capital and “strongly not  recommended” throughout.

Those who hit the road anyway must observe a 20  kilometre-per-hour speed limit. Police are watching. Buses, ambulances, police vehicles, fire trucks and taxis were allowed to ply the streets.