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Garbage selfie: Mountains of garbage on the streets of France

Its streets are full of rubbish Pariswith tourists taking selfies against the backdrop of mountains of waste as waste collection workers strike in protest at pension reform.

On the banks of the Seine, in the shadow of Notre Dame, piles of garbage block the view. To get to the imposing cathedral in the heart of the French capital one must first fight the dirt.

Visitors who want to admire the Eiffel Tower, exiting the subway, stumble upon a wall of black bags. In the city center, the once romantic streets are littered with boxes, cages and scraps.

Tourists can’t stand it: “It’s disgusting”

“I’ve never seen this in Canada,” says Omera, a pink-haired Canadian who has just photographed a mountain garbage in Saint Michel, in the heart of the Latin Quarter. And he makes a prediction:This will drive away the tourists. They won’t come again».

Martin Ruiz, an 18-year-old Texan, resents the smell: “It’s disgusting.” At the Opera, Ángeles Mosqueda declares himself very disturbed by the display, while the German Claudia Harmand attempts a slalom between the piles of garbage that “somewhat spoils the charm” of the city. “It’s not amazing either.”

Peak the pension

The City of Light, with 34.5 million tourists in 2022, has been the victim of a protest movement over Emmanuel Macron’s government’s reform of the pension system, which includes raising the retirement age.

For Mark, a tourist from Kansas, who pushes his baby’s stroller next to the garbage, “strikes don’t change anything. If you have to retire later, so be it.”

The British Olivia Stevenson says on the contrary that “strikes must be supported everywhere”, in France as in England reports APE-MPE, citing AFP.

“Obviously, it’s not the best for foreign visitors,” admits Jean-Francois Rial, president of the Paris Convention and Tourism Organization.

But “even two weeks without garbage collection didn’t hurt the image of Naples.” “This episode will not affect tourist traffic in Paris.”

Source: News Beast

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