Sanitation workers on strike; garbage piles tarnish Paris's beauty
The City of Light is losing its luster with tons of garbage piling up on Paris sidewalks as sanitation workers remained on strike for the tenth day. The creeping squalor is the most visible sign of widespread anger over a bill to raise the French retirement age by two years. The stench of rotting food has begun escaping from some rubbish bags and overflowing bins. More than 7,000 tons of garbage had piled up by Tuesday. Other French cities are also having garbage problems, but the mess in Paris, the showcase of France, has quickly become emblematic of strikers’ discontent, reported AP.
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People walk past uncollected garbage cans near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on March 12. The City of Light is losing its luster with tons of garbage piling up on Paris sidewalks as sanitation workers continued their strike for the ninth day, on Tuesday, reported AP. (Michel Euler / AP)
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A view of a street shows overflowing garbage lying unattended as garbage collectors, street cleaners, and underground sewer workers continued their strike for the tenth day today. Strikes have intermittently hobbled other sectors including transport, energy, and ports, but Macron remains undaunted as his government presses ahead with trying to get the unpopular pension reform bill passed in parliament. The bill would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 for most people and from 57 to 59 for most people in the sanitation sector, reported AP. (Benoit Tessier / Reuters)
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A man walks his dog past piles of garbage in Paris, on March 13. (Lewis Joly / AP)
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Uncollected garbage are pictured near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, on March 14. Even the strikers themselves, who include garbage collectors, street cleaners and underground sewer workers, are concerned about what Paris is becoming in their absence, reported AP. (Thomas Padilla / AP)
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