France strikes: The streets of Paris are left littered with accumulated rubbish

Paris (CNN) The City of Lights has a garbage problem.

Massive strikes in Paris against pension reform this week have affected rubbish collection services in the French capital, where piles of rubbish lie on many of the city’s scenic streets, including those just steps from monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Victory.

A spokeswoman for the Paris mayor’s office said that some 4,400 tons of rubbish were waiting until Saturday to be collected. The spokeswoman said the problem was that the garbage incinerators were clogged by the strikes. Thus, the garbage trucks could not pick up the waste in most parts of the city because they had nowhere to put it.

Not all neighborhoods were affected equally. The municipal government is responsible for garbage collection in the 20 semi-arrondissement of Paris. Private contractors are responsible for the other ten.

Municipal services such as garbage collection in Paris have been affected since then Tuesdaywhen strikes led to cancellations and delays of flights and trains; oil refineries besieged; schools are closed; Thousands were left without electricity. The French capital has been hardest hit, with nearly 60% of primary school teachers leaving, and the local metro having to cut service at all but the busiest times.

Mass protests were held regularly across France Since January 19thwith more than a million people coming out several times to express their opposition to the government’s plan to raise the official retirement age for most workers as part of reforms to the state pension system, one of the most generous in Europe.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government says the changes are necessary to make the system financially stable.

The accumulation of rubbish in Paris has sparked health concerns among Parisians and local politicians. The mayor of the 17th arrondissement, Geoffroy Pollard, said in an interview with CNN affiliate BFMTV that he had asked Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to hire a private service provider to intervene.

He said, “We can’t wait.” “This is a public health issue.”

Polar said he is also concerned about the spread of rats and rodents as well as Paris’s image.

Another local mayor, Jean-Pierre Lecoq of the 6th arrondissement, asked Hidalgo to intervene in an open letter he posted on Twitter.