Parisians try out homelessness for a night

Paris' Saint-Martin canal, frequented by tourists and evening revellers, has become dotted with around 100 tents as a symbol of France's homelessness problem.

Jean-Baptiste Legrand and Augustin Legrand have financed the implementation of the tents and are encouraging Parisians to swap their apartments for a night on the street, albeit in a tent with hot pastries for breakfast.

The brothers head a non-profit organisation called the Children of Don Quixote, which campaigns for a solution to the growing number of people who are homeless in the capital.

"For most people, the homeless are just another part of the cityscape, like cars and trees and buildings. People don't give them a second thought," Jean-Baptiste Legrand told the Associated Press.

"We wanted to give ordinary citizens a chance to walk in the shoes of the homeless."

Most of the tents are red and many are emblazoned with the letters SDF, meaning 'without fixed residence'.

A number of homeless people are camped with the tents throughout the day, maintaining the high profile of their protest in one of Paris' busiest districts.