Parisians to ‘take a sh*t’ in Seine ahead of Olympic Games
Drop of pork prices? Release piglets in supermarkets in western France. Low prices of eggs? Smash 200,000 yolks. Changes in tobacco packaging? Leave four tonnes of carrots outside the Socialist Party offices.
Protesting – in particular, radical acts of rebellion – are embedded in the French’s relationship with the government.
And next on the list is the £1.2 billion state-backed plan to clean up the Seine in Paris ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games.
People are now organising a ‘sh*t flashmob’ in the river on the day that president Emmanuel Macron and mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, promised to take a swim in it to prove that their efforts are not in vain.
The hashtag #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin, which translates to ‘I sh*t in the Seine on June 23’ began trending on X last week after she announced the date of her dip.
A website with the same name was also set up, where participants can enter the location where they are planning to defecate.
‘Because after putting us in sh*t it is up to them to bathe in our sh*t,’ a message on it read. This is also the slogan of the campaign.
A posted announcing the event, which is circulating on X, says: ‘On Sunday, June 23, we expect many of you to come and take a sh*t in the Seine!’
Under ‘ticket’ it states, ‘Without reservation, free access’. The location is down as Pont Marie in the 4th arrondissement.
Social media has been flooded with its fair share of memes reacting to the threat.
Perhaps the most family-friendly one is an AI image of toilets being installed on the banks of the Seine by ‘the City of Paris’ to counter the operation.
Another fake picture shows the French president standing on a bridge over the river covered in poo.
The protest comes amid the ongoing efforts to clean up the Seine, so that people can swim in it again, as was the case during the 1900 Paris Olympics.
A sewer problem in the summer of 2023 led to the cancellation of a pre-Olympics swimming event.
‘You bet I will,’ Macron told reporters when asked if he would swim in the Seine. ‘I will do it. But I won’t give you the date, or you risk being there.’
Olympic Open water and triathlon events are scheduled to take place in the river during the Paris 2024 Games.
Yet the French nonprofit Surfrider says more work might have to be done to make some sections of the Seine swimmable by July, with campaigners finding ‘concentrations of enterococci and E. coli’ in the river.
Dr Leon Davis, Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Events Management at Teesside University in Middlesbrough, England, told Metro.co.uk that the biggest issue for the games will be the Seine.
He said: ‘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,.’
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