Bloggers defend man's 'right to pee in public'

Bloggers have come out in support of a car-test driver in Arvidsjaur in northern Sweden who has been fined for urinating in public.

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The 20-year-old car-test driver works nights and elected to relieve himself discretely behind a building in an industrial area in the northern Swedish town of Arvidsjaur in the early hours of the morning.

But as he was performing his morning ablutions a police patrol passed by and with sirens blaring, caught the man with his pants down. Despite his protestations that there were no public toilets in the area and that he was busting for a leak, police fined the man 800 kronor ($95).

The man's story made the local press and Piteå-Tidningen's article earlier in February sparked a storm of comments, many of which expressed support for the man who was caught short.

A blog entitled "Arvidsjaur justice (It is still legal to pee oneself)" has been started in support of the man and a general right to relief.

"No police officer should get the impression that we prefer to pee outside or go out to deliberately break the law or to provoke police. What are we supposed to do and what is allowed?" wrote a sympathetic blogger.

"I would like to know how to avoid what happened to the test driver, happening to me."

County police commissioner Håkan Karlsson replied to the newspaper that he could not comment on the case until he was fully informed of the circumstances.

"But I presume that the police action was conducted in the correct manner."