Parisians are brewing a storm – and it’s not the kind you want to swim in. In a protest against the high cost of cleaning the Seine River for the 2024 Olympics, some residents are threatening to defecate in the very water they claim isn’t clean enough yet.
What is Poo Protest?
The Poo Protest, fueled by the hashtag #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin (“I Shit in the Seine on June 23rd”), was originally aimed at coinciding with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s planned swim in the Seine to showcase its supposed Olympic-ready state. However, Hidalgo has postponed the dip until after the French elections in July.
President Emmanuel Macron has also pledged a pre-Games swim, but details remain murky. This lack of transparency has fueled public anger, with a protest website declaring, “They plunged us into shit, it’s their turn to plunge into our shit.”
The anonymous programmer behind the Poo Protest website explained the frustration to Actu Paris: “The problem is that all the resources spent haven’t addressed existing social issues. We feel abandoned.”
Over €1.4 billion has been poured into cleaning the Seine for triathlon and open water swimming events. Yet, a recent report revealed the water still falls short of Olympic standards due to high levels of fecal bacteria, including E. coli.
Parisians feel this exorbitant expenditure comes at the expense of neglected social problems. The Olympics have already sparked controversy with hiked transportation costs, cleared homeless encampments (raising accusations of “hiding poverty”), and student relocations for Olympic workers.
Will the “poo protest” actually happen? The website programmer admits it started as a joke. But “nothing is excluded,” leaving the possibility of a messy protest hanging in the air. Comment and let us know you thoughts on this.
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