"Mayor, Let's Make the River Dirty on the Day You Swim"... Paris Citizens Threaten 'Bathroom' Terror

Citizens of Paris, France, have announced that they will collectively "do their business" in the Seine River as a form of protest, claiming that the city authorities have failed to fulfill their promise to complete the Seine water purification project before the Paris Olympic Games.

On the 3rd (local time), Australian SBS and other media reported that recently Paris residents have been posting hashtags on X (formerly Twitter) saying "Let's do our business in the Seine on the 23rd." This day coincides with when Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, announced she would swim in the Seine herself.

Paris citizens are leaving hashtags on X saying "Let's do our business in the Seine" in response to Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, entering the Seine.
[Photo by X capture]

Earlier, Mayor Hidalgo declared that she, along with notable figures such as Laurent Nunez, the head of the Paris Police Department, would enter the Seine directly after persistent criticism that the water quality of the Seine was unsuitable for Olympic swimming events. The intention was to personally demonstrate the safety of the water quality.

In response, local netizens using the hashtag wrote, "The French know better than any other country how to riot," adding, "Now is the time for the person who trapped us in the sewage water to swim in it."

The Seine will host the triathlon swimming events and the open water swimming competition, known as the "swimming marathon," for the Olympics opening in July. While swimming competitions were held in the Seine during the 1900 Paris Olympics, due to water pollution caused by industrialization and the increase of sightseeing boats, swimming in the Seine has been completely banned for over 100 years since 1923.

Because of this, the Paris city government has invested 1.4 billion euros (approximately 2.05 trillion KRW) in large-scale Seine purification projects, including the installation of sewage treatment plants and rainwater treatment facilities. However, the local civic group "Surfrider," which has been monitoring the Seine's water quality, revealed that after collecting and analyzing samples from the competition section over six months from late last year to early this year, the levels of E. coli detected in the Seine exceeded the standards suitable for swimming.

Despite ongoing criticism that swimming in such waters could harm the health and safety of athletes, the Paris city government and the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee maintain their position to complete the water purification work before the Games and hold the swimming events in the Seine as planned. President Emmanuel Macron also expressed confidence in April that "the water quality improvement work will be completed before the Olympic opening ceremony," and publicly declared that he would "swim in the Seine."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.