Today, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo would take a dip in the Seine River to demonstrate that it is clean enough.
There has been no swimming, and instead angry Parisians are now threatening to poop in the river.
Ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, the city has been working hard to clean up the river Seine. The reason is that the intention is to let the marathon swimming and triathlon take place right there.
So far, the authorities have invested over 1.4 billion euros in the work, but the cost has been without return.
As late as on Midsummer’s Eve, the water was still too dirty to swim in. The test swims have been continuously canceled due to excessive levels of e-coli and enterococci.
Threatening to poop in the river
Sunday, June 23, was the day that Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo would take a dip under the bridges of Paris to demonstrate that the water is clean enough for the athletes.
But the mayor hasn’t even dipped a toe during Sunday.
Instead, the spotlight has fallen on a group of angry Parisians who, in pure dissatisfaction with the clean-up costs, threatened to poop in the river.
In social media, the hashtag #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin, which in pure Swedish becomes “I shit in the Seine on June 23”, has spread.
“Should focus on social problems”
In addition, a website has started with a slogan that reads “They have thrown us into the shit, it’s their turn to throw ourselves into our shit”.
The programmer behind the website tells Sky News that he is upset that the authorities invested so much money in the Olympics instead of letting it go to social problems.
Whether the discontent will actually result in action, or if it’s mostly a joke, remains to be seen.
The Paris Olympics take place between July 26 and August 11.