Paris Mayor Combats Noisy Nightlife by Deploying Roving Squads of Mimes

This is both creepily terrifying yet kind of awesome, in a drunk-whisperer, Pied Piper, passive-aggressive arrogantly Gallic yet obviously better than pepper spray and riot gear kind of way.

You have encountered a “Pierrot de la Nuit,” or Night Mime. These “nocturnal artistic intervention squads” are officially being launched this weekend in 15 Parisian neighborhoods. It’s an initiative of the Paris mayor’s office, which has adopted a strategy that has already proven effective in Vienna and the Spanish cities of Tarragona and Barcelona. According to a statement from the city of Paris, the aim is to use “language, theater, mime, and dance to raise awareness among residents, bar-owners, and night-owls” about noise pollution. —Paris Mayor Combats Noisy Nightlife by Deploying Roving Squads of Mimes.