The mayor of a Lebanese city ordered female police officers to wear short shorts to attract tourists

Brumanna is a small Lebanese town located 17 kilometers from Beirut. There, as in many other small towns around the world, they try to attract as many tourists as possible by various and sometimes strange methods — giant statues, unique museums and souvenir shops.

Only here in Brumann they went further. The mayor of the city, Pierre Achkar, dressed the entire traffic police in short black shorts. According to him, such a measure will attract more Western tourists to the city.

"We in Lebanon want to change the faded picture that the West imagines in relation to our country. 99 percent of tourists in the Mediterranean wear shorts."

The mayor's actions have come under a barrage of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum in the country. Conservatives accuse Achkar of unnecessarily "exposing" female police officers, and liberals are outraged why it is only women who have to wear shorts as a uniform, while male police officers are completely covered with clothes.

Brummana recruited policewomen. And they dressed them like that. Look at what their male counterparts are wearing. Are these women supposed to help keep the safety of the city or be the touristic attractions in it? pic.twitter.com/2pbOyncQJg

— Laudy Issa (@laudyissa) June 17, 2018

"In an attempt to attract tourists, imitating the West (in the original to ape — "copy", "ape"), we ourselves turn into them (monkeys)," the user wrote on Twitter.