Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has triggered a heated debate by saying she needs to maintain the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower after the summer time Video games are over.
“The choice is as much as me, and I’ve the settlement of the IOC [International Olympic Committee],” she advised the Ouest-France newspaper over the weekend.
“So sure, they [the rings] will keep on the Eiffel Tower,” she added.
Some Parisians backed the transfer, however others – together with heritage campaigners – mentioned it was a nasty concept and would “defile” the French capital’s iconic monument.
The 5 rings – 29m (95ft) huge, 15m excessive and weighing 30 tonnes – had been put in on the Eiffel Tower earlier than the Paris Olympics opened on 26 July, and had been anticipated to be taken down after the Paralympics’ closing ceremony on 8 September.
However Ms Hidalgo mentioned she wished to maintain the interlaced rings of blue, yellow, black, inexperienced and pink, symbolising the 5 continents.
She added that the present rings – every one measuring 9m in diameter – had been too heavy and would get replaced by a lighter model sooner or later.
The Socialist mayor additionally claimed that “the French have fallen in love with Paris once more” throughout the Video games, and she or he wished “this festive spirit to stay”.
Some Parisians in addition to guests to the French capital supported the mayor.
“The Eiffel Tower could be very lovely, the rings add color. It’s extremely good to see it like this,” a younger lady, who recognized herself as Solène, advised the France Bleu web site.
However Manon, a neighborhood resident, mentioned this was “a very unhealthy concept”.
“It is a historic monument, why defile it with rings? It was good for the Olympics however now it is over, we are able to transfer on, possibly we should always take away them and return the Eiffel Tower to the way it was earlier than,” he advised France Bleu.
Social media person Christophe Robin mentioned Ms Hidalgo ought to have consulted Parisians earlier than going forward together with her plan.
In a submit on X, he reminded that the Eiffel Tower featured a Citroën advert in 1925-36.
The Eiffel Tower was constructed in1889 for the World’s Truthful. The wrought-iron lattice tower was initially closely criticised by Parisian artists and intellectuals – however is now seen by many because the image of the “Metropolis of Gentle”.
Ms Hidalgo, who has been working Paris since 2014, is understood for her daring – and generally controversial – reforms.
Underneath her tenure, many metropolis streets, together with the banks of the river Seine, have been pedestrianised.
Final yr, she won convincingly a city referendum to ban rental electric scooters. Nevertheless, fewer than 8% of these eligible turned out to vote.
However each drivers’ teams and opposition figures attacked the scheme, saying the SUV classification was deceptive as many family-size vehicles can be affected.
France’s Atmosphere Minister Christophe Béchu mentioned on the time that the surcharge amounted to “punitive environmentalism”.
And simply earlier than the Paris Olympics, Ms Hidalgo and different officers went into the Seine to show the river was secure to swim.
