Pokémon Go might have taken the world by storm but one French village is having none of it.
The augmented reality location-based game has been banned by the mayor of a French town called Bressolles because it poses as a distraction for drivers and inattentive pedestrians, according to the Associated Press.
Bresolles Mayor Fabrice Beauvois signed a municipal decree earlier this month to ban the game in Bresolles, a town with a population of approximately 800 people located near the French city of Lyon.
Beauvois announced on Tuesday (Aug. 16) that he had sent the decree to Pokémon Go creators Niantic Inc. ordering them to comply with the same and remove the virtual Pokémon creatures from Bresolles territory.
The decree states that the popular mobile game, in which players catch, train and battle Pokémon, is a safety hazard and puts the lives of people at risk because it distracts pedestrians and drivers alike, which could lead to accidents.
Describing the game as a "contagious phenomenon," Beauvois' decree added that the game was dangerous because of its highly addictive nature.
The mayor also criticized Niantic for setting up shop in his village without permission. "When a cafe or a restaurant owner wants to open a business in any French town, they have an obligation to request prior authorization to the mayor. The rule applies to all people wishing to set up an activity or occupy a space on a public property. So it applies to Niantic as well, even though their settlement is virtual," Beauvois said, according to CNET.
This comes days after Pokémon creatures were removed from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum after the institutions filed a formal request with Niantic to get rid of the virtual characters from its premises.
Pokémon Go was also recently banned in Iran due to unspecified "security concerns." More details on that story in the video below: