Oh l'amour: Paris bridge rail collapses under weight of too much love

The path of true love for tourists in Paris has 
often involved a stroll across the Pont des Arts and...
the attachment of a "love lock" to its railings. The key is then thrown into the river Seine.

But the celebrated bridge had to be evacuated at the weekend after part of the railing collapsed under the weight of love locks attached to it.

Police ordered visitors to leave and closed the footbridge after a 2.4-metre section of railing broke loose.

Since the phenomenon began in 2008 it has become a headache for city officials. Not only is the full 150-metre Pont des Arts covered in locks, but visiting lovebirds have targeted other bridges in the French capital. Forty locks are reported to have been removed from the Eiffel tower.

Paris authorities cannot say they were not warned. In 2010 concerns were expressed about the locks, which disappeared from the bridge one night but were later found to have been removed by an art student who had turned them into a sculpture.

Protesters who say the thousands of locks are an eyesore and vandalism have long warned they are also a risk to the iron bridge, which is a listed monument, and launched a petition to have them removed. There are also campaigns on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In an open letter to the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, the petition organisers complained that the locks were "like a plague on our city's historic bridges and sites".

"This is most apparent on the Pont des Arts, which has been terribly degraded, both visually and structurally In a few short years, the heart of Paris has been made ugly, robbing Parisians of quality of life and the ability to safely enjoy their own public spaces along the Seine, which has itself been polluted by thousands of discarded keys.

"The time has come to enact a ban on 'love locks' in order to return our bridges to their original beauty and purpose," they wrote.

On its website, the Paris authorities write: "It is wonderful to see such a vast amount of devoted couples; however the ritual is posing several problems due to the weight of the thousands of small steel padlocks."

It asks: "Is the Passerelle des Arts to become a victim of the lovebirds who wish to solemnise their enduring love?" theguardian.com

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