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Don’t die here — or else!

clochemerle maire.jpg
“Offenders will be severely punished!”

The mayor of a village in southwest France has threatened residents with severe punishment if they die, because there is no room left in the overcrowded cemetery to bury them.

Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that “all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish. Offenders will be severely punished.”

The mayor said he was forced to take drastic action after an administrative court ruled that the acquisition of adjoining private land to extend the cemetery would not be justified.

“It may be a laughing matter for some, but not for me,” he said.

This looks like a widespread issue. Last November I posted about a similar problem in the town of Cugnaux, and the BBC reported about a death ban in 2000.

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Comments

Comment from Phil Northall
Time: March 7, 2008, 8:02 pm

I wouldn’t be seen dead in France