Paris to ban the most polluting diesel vehicles by 2020 to lower air pollution

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has presented a plan to ban most diesel vehicles from the city by 2020 in order to lower air pollution.

By July, diesel buses and trucks will be banned during the daytime from entering the city but not from the ring road around Paris, Hidalgo explained Monday in a plan to members of the Paris Council. Then, she said, the measure will be gradually extended to ban diesel vehicles made before 2011 — regarded as the most polluting — by 2020.

Hidalgo praised residents' "great support for the plan," since the city is considered among the most polluted capitals of Europe.

Hundreds of bikers rode through the streets of Paris on Sunday to protest the plan, which also includes a ban on motorcycles made before 2000.