Parisians have threatened to poo in the River Seine today in a protest ahead of the Olympics.
People angry at the expense of cleaning up the river have rallied under the hashtag #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin, which translates as “I shit in the Seine on 23 June”.
Today was supposed to be the date Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo would swim in the Seine to prove the water was clean enough for Olympic athletes – but she delayed the dip until after the French elections in July.
President Emmanuel Macron has also promised to swim in the Seine before the Games, but has not said when.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has said she would swim in the Seine before the Olympics. Pic: AP
A website has been set up with the slogan: “They have plunged us into shit, it’s their turn to plunge into our shit.”
The anonymous programmer behind the website told news outlet Actu Paris why people are angry.
“The problem is that all the resources that have been invested have not been to resolve all the social problems we have at the moment,” he said.
“We have the feeling of being abandoned. We see where their priority was.”
More than €1.4bn (£1.2bn) has been spent on trying to make the water safe enough to swim in, with triathlon and open water swimming events scheduled to take place in the river.
A report published on Friday showed the water was still too dirty to swim in, just over five weeks out from the first triathlon event.
Water samples showed high rates of two kinds of faecal bacteria, including E.coli, and did not meet the standards set for the Games, Paris region prefect Marc Guillaume said.
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People are frustrated so much money has been invested in the clean-up operation when other social issues have been neglected.
Aspects of the Olympics have proved controversial. Parisians face hiked transport costs during the Games; homeless encampments have been cleared, prompting accusations of France trying to “hide poverty”; and students have been moved to make way for Olympics workers.
So will people actually stage their dirty protest?
The website programmer said while it started as a joke, people could follow through, telling Actu Paris: “Nothing is excluded.”