Getty Image / Tim Clayton / Corbis
Residents of Paris are planning a flash mob of poopers to sabotage the Seine River Olympics swimming course ahead of a stunt planned by French President Emmanuel Macron.
The government of France has sunk over $1.5 billion into cleaning up a portion of the Seine River on the Grand Palais that is intended to be used for the 10KM portion of the triathlon and marathon swimming events. While there has always been concern the course wouldn’t be ready in time due to fecal bacteria present in the water, President Emmanuel Macron announced he and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo would swim in the water to prove that it was safe for athletes.
Parisians who are none too pleased about the government sinking one-and-a-half billion dollars into cleaning up the river before the Paris Olympics are now organizing a flash mob of poopers. Their plan is to all get together and poop in the river right before the French President and Paris Mayor go swimming to ensure the fecal bacteria counts in the water go through the roof.
Paris residents have begun organizing the flash mob on social media with the hashtag #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin which, in English, roughly translates to “I s— in the Seine on June 23.” June 23rd is the proposed day of the flash mob and the day Macron and Hidalgo plan to go swimming in the Seine.
One image with half a million views on X (formerly Twitter) was created by AI and shows a row of toilets on the Seine. It appears to be one of the most popular and earliest images using the hashtag.
The plan to poop in the Seine has always taken off on TikTok where people are organizing the flash mob:
@royaventurera The French once again giving a masterclass in protesting #france #french #olympics #paris #parisolympics2024 #jechiedanslaseinele23juin #funny
Nobody loves to protest like the French. They THRIVE on taking time off work for days or weeks on end to protest anything and everything regardless of how inconsequential the protests are or how slight the perceived injustice is.
It’s almost a certainty that a large group of Parisians will join the flash mob of poopers on June 23rd but what remains to be seen is if the government pushes back with harsh arrests.