Two of the six foreigners who were pictured urinating on an elevated highway in downtown Shanghai in March have been identified and fined 100 yuan (US$16.3) each, officials said yesterday.

Six foreigners are pictured urinating on an elevated highway in downtown Shanghai in March,2003.[Photo/Sina.com]

But online tweets lamented that the fines were too light.

"Finally I see punishment, but only 100 yuan for peeing on the elevated highway while parking in the wrong place costs 200?" questioned a Weibo user "bhzlittle."

"They should be punished to clean the city's elevated highways," complained another.

The six men, who were drunk, asked the driver to stop the bus on the elevated road. They got down from the bus and urinated against a road divider in full view of the passing traffic.

Four of them, whose identities were not revealed, had already left the country, said Wang Ruwei, deputy director of Shanghai Urban Management and Law Enforcement Team.

"Urinating on the elevated road not only blemishes the city's image but also poses traffic hazard," Wang said.

"After the incident came to light, we started investigation and it took us some time before we managed to find the two offenders," he said.

The urban management team, with the help of police, traced the bus driver and identified the two foreigners - a Dane and a German.

"We found them in April but they did not know each other," Wang told Shanghai Daily.

Wang did not reveal any other details of the two except saying they were grown-ups.

It was the first time that foreigners were punished for urinating in public. Local rules state that urinating and defecating in public will incur fines of 100 and 200 yuan respectively.

The bizarre incident happened on March 23 when the six foreign men lined up and urinated against a low barrier in the middle of the North-South Elevated Road.

A passing vehicle took their pictures and posted it online, sparking a furor.

Police caught up with the bus driver, surnamed Bian, who said he was driving them back from the Audi International Circuit racetrack in Jiading District to Zhaojiabang Road in Xuhui District about 4pm when the incident happened.

Bian said they forced him to stop, so he tried pulling over along the thin median.

"They had too much to drink and wanted to urinate," Bian told a local TV channel. "They dragged my steering wheel and I almost hit other cars."

Bian was fined 200 yuan by the traffic police and six demerit points deducted from his driving record.

A driver's license is suspended if he collects 12 demerit points in a year.

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