“I have never seen this”says an astonished Canadian. In Paris, the world’s most visited city, tourists must dodge the trash piled up in its iconic landmarks by a strike by janitors against an unpopular pension reform.
On the banks of the Seine River, debris blocks the view of Notre Dame. To contemplate the famous cathedral built between the 12th and 14th centuries in the heart of the capital and damaged by a fire in 2019, one must abstract.
Tourists want to see the Eiffel Tower from the impressive Trocadero esplanade, but when they exit the metro, they must first walk through a wall of plastic bags. In the middle, the once romantic alleyways are strewn with boxes and cardboardsometimes with spoiled food.
“I’ve never seen this in Canada,” says Omera, a Canadian tourist with dyed-pink hair, just after taking a photo of the trash piled up in Saint Michel, in the Latin Quarter. “This will make the tourists flee!” he predicts.
Martin Ruiz, an 18-year-old American, laments the smell: “It’s disgusting.” “The smell is unpleasant to be able to consume food or travel through the city”abounds Ángeles Mosqueda, a Mexican tourist, who wears a purple beret before the Paris Opera.
German Claudia Harmand explains the unlikely “slalom through the rubbish”, which “spoils the charm of the city a bit”. “Not great,” she acknowledges with a smile.
The City of Light, which received in 2022 about 34.5 million tourists according to the authorities, there is significant social discontent against a reform promoted by the liberal president Emmanuel Macronwhich is opposed by two out of three French people.
To force the government to back down, the unions intensified their actions last week with extendable strikes in key sectors such as energy and transport, after having organized massive demonstrations in January and February.
In Paris, municipal garbage collection employees began their strike more than a week ago, whichaffects half of the capitaland this Tuesday they decided to extend it until March 20.
In the evening, because of the “sanitary conditions”, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, ordered the prefect of the Paris police to ask the mayor’s office to “requisition” the necessary means to collect the garbage. If the City Council does not act accordingly, “the State” will do it in its place, warned the minister.
A municipal cleaning employee, Nabil Latreche44, denounces the fact of having to work more years, despite having a “painful” job.
“We work rain, snow or wind (…) When we are behind the truck, we breathe volatile things. We have many occupational diseases,” he says.
When I retire, “I know that I will live poor” with a pension of 1,200 euros at the most, he regrets Murielle Gaeremyncka 56-year-old woman, a garbage collector for two decades.
His colleagues from private companies, which operate in the rest of the capital, are facing the blockade of the incinerator plants. Total, 6,600 tons of garbage accumulate in the streetsa volume that increases every day.
On vacation in Paris, thousands of tourists find themselves immersed in the French social conflict. For Mark, from the US state of Kansas, empathy is relative. “The strike will not change anything. If you have to retire later, then do it,” says the man, who pushes his baby’s stroller.
the british Olivia Stevenson Instead, he supports strikes “anywhere,” whether in France or the recent ones in his country. Garbage in Paris “spoils sight and smell,” but “retirement and salary are important to many people,” he explains.
“Obviously, it is not the best for foreign tourists,” he acknowledges. Jean-François Rialthe president of the Paris Convention and Tourism Office, but “will not damage the image” of the city.
“Even two weeks without garbage collection had not harmed Naples,” says the man, for whom the social conflict will not take its toll “on the tourist frequency of this wonderful city.”
Discussion about this post