Mayor mashes up Mercedes in publicity stunt

In a bid to crack down on illegally parked vehicles, Vilnius mayor Arturas Suokas took part in a decidedly forthright publicity campaign.

In pictures that have now graced the pages of newspapers worldwide, Mr Suokas is seen riding gleefully over a Mercedes Benz in a chunky armoured personnel carrier.

Vilnius authorities may not actually be adopting car-crushing as daily policy, but the picture still managed to cause a stir, not least because it turned out that the mayor's staff doctored the image for the press.

As it was, there were two other people in the armoured vehicle producers from a Swedish TV show called 99 things to do before you die.

Editors from the Associated Press have since responded that it against their policy to publish doctored images.

"It is completely inappropriate to provide photoshopped images to media companies as it compromises our credibility and misleads our readers," declared Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography.