Safety, "moralization," good taste, and decorum seem to be the watchwords of Palau's new Urban Police Regulations, approved by the City Council on July 24, containing new rules and penalties "to ensure decorum and safety."
Starting – among others – with the provisions that prohibit, "throughout the entire municipal territory, stopping in vehicles and requesting or agreeing to sexual services with individuals who practice street prostitution , or with individuals who, by their attitude or behavior, demonstrate that they are practicing this activity, thus obstructing or endangering the flow of traffic."
"Nuisance and invasive begging" is also prohibited, while "begging requests must not offend public decency, for example, by displaying or simulating physical disabilities in order to arouse pity in passersby and more easily obtain financial donations. The use of minors in begging is always prohibited."
Measures and sanctions also apply to behaviors that may "offend public decency, including satisfying physiological needs outside designated places, self-cleaning public toilets, performing acts of personal hygiene or exposing intimate parts of the body in public places or places open to the public" .
The new regulation also prohibits "walking around and entering public places and venues bare-chested, such as commercial establishments, urban streets, city squares, places of worship, and institutional buildings, with the exception of bathing areas and beaches."
Furthermore, it is not permitted to hang laundry or any other type of clothing outside windows or on terraces facing Via Nazionale, Piazza della Chiesa, Piazza Due Palme, Piazza Fresi, Piazza del Molo, Via Capo D'Orso, Via Fonte Vecchia, or along main tourist thoroughfares. In other areas, however, items on display must comply with certain regulations.
