Paris says lock your love with a selfie

Paris: Addressing young couples in Paris, the eternal city of love, the City Hall authorities said on Monday to consider immortalising passion with a “selfie” rather than lashing a padlock to a city bridge.

The authorities, desperately trying to save its bridges, including the world-famous Pont des Arts, from damage from the thousands of padlocks left by lovers to pledge their eternal devotion.

Since 2008, when the craze first began, thousands of couples have visited the Pont des Arts and sealed their love by attaching a lock carrying their names to its railing and throwing the key in the Seine.

But, too much love can be a dangerous thing and the city authorities have been wrestling with the problem of how to halt the phenomenon, which is beginning to take its toll. In June, police ushered tourists off the Pont des Arts when a section of the footbridge collapsed under the weight of the locks.

Two Americans, living in Paris, have gathered thousands of signatures for a petition they have launched in March calling for the locks to be removed, saying they damage the bridges. City Hall authorities said: “The idea is to give couples the alternative of a selfie instead of a love lock and explain that they are weighing too heavily on Parisian bridges.”

Notices have been put up on bridges encouraging lovers to take selfies and upload them to a special site or to tweet them with the hashtag #lovewithoutlocks. “It’s the first step in a wider action plan, an initial communication effort to tell people that love locks are not good for Paris’s cultural heritage,” City Hall added.

“Our bridges can no longer withstand your gestures of love, no more love locks,” the notices will read. “It's the first step in a wider action plan to tell people that love locks are not good for Paris's cultural heritage and that actually, it's not an ideal way to symbolise love,” an official said.