Locals in Paris are planning a “s**t flashmob” in the Seine on the day President Emmanuel Macron and Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo vowed to swim in the river to prove how “clean it is”.
The £1.2billion clean up plan comes ahead of the Olympic Games due to be held in Paris this summer.
Last week, the hashtag #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin – which translates to “I s**t in the Seine on June 23” – began trending online.
A website under the same name was created after Hidalgo announced that she would be taking a swim.
The protest comes amid a huge clean-up of the Seine – similar to an operation carried out ahead of the 1900 Paris Olympics
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The site, which includes a section where participants can enter the location where they are planning to defecate, posted a message saying: “Because after putting us in s**t it is up to them to bathe in our s**t.”
In a post on social media, organisers said: “On Sunday, June 23, we expect many of you to come and take a s**t in the Seine!”
The protest comes amid a huge clean-up of the Seine – similar to an operation carried out ahead of the 1900 Paris Olympics.
It comes after a sewer issue led to the cancellation of a pre-Olympics swimming event in 2023.
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When asked by reporters if he would swim in the Seine, Macron said: “You bet I will.
“I will do it. But I won’t give you the date, or you risk being there.”
Olympic open water and triathlon events are due to take place in the river during the Paris 2024 Games.
However, experts suggest more work is required ahead of July after finding “concentrations of enterococci and E. coli” in the river.
In a post on social media, organisers said: ‘On Sunday, June 23, we expect many of you to come and take a s**t in the Seine!’
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“The biggest issue will be the Seine, and whether it will be ready for the opening ceremony, especially as it will break tradition for the first time by not being held at the stadium,” Dr Leon Davis, Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Events Management at Teesside University told the Metro.
On Thursday, Hidalgo said: “In Paris, there’s also a childhood dream to be able to swim in this river, where people swam 100 years ago.
“And here we are, because of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was a big mobilisation of resources that we couldn’t do alone.”