Surely this is a fad that will die out...?>

Yup just like throwing coins over your back into the Trevi Fountain in Rome?

Incredibly for years I read some local older guy scooped them out at night - now I think the city gets the loot they lost out on for so so long.

Since love lockers have decided that any place in Paris to which they can affix a lock (and find the place "symbolic"), there is absolutely no hope in trying to get the cops to chase people down. If the bridges on the Seine become unsafe, there are all of the bridges on the Canal Saint Martin (Hello, Amélie!). If the bridges on the Canal Saint Martin become impossible, there are all of the fences in the gardens of Sacré Coeur, the Buttes Chaumont, Parc Monceau, or just about anywhere else. "Enforcement" will never work.

Well, then, Paris is doomed.

Well call out the army then - hire some of the many youthful unemployed folks to be lock cutters - cutting them as soon as they are locked on - there has to be an easy answer to this but Paris officials seem incapable of solving this really simple problem - have unemployed youth working at taking the locks off as soon as they are put on - problem solved and also helps the unemployment problem.

Maybe shift those public employees that use those primitive looking brooms to sweep the street gutters and put them to that job - if the city wants to get ride of all these profligate proliferating locks it can easily be done.

Seems flummoxing as to why they cannot - London I think would have that problem solved a long time ago as would any German town - just needs some action and there seems there in none currently - folks sell locks unfettered right by the bridges.

And Fodor's not long ago listed the locked bridges as a neat thing about Paris - maybe because it is turning into a tourist lure is one reason the locks abound?

Easy answer? Littering is illegal, too. How much do you think taxes should be increased (preferably tourist taxes) to cover the hiring of the necessary repressive forces?

I remember when the locks first appeared on the Pont des Arts. There were so few of them. I walked over the bridge last month in the middle of the day and counted 6 guys selling locks on the bridge. And, people were buying them. Such a shame.

easy answer? Yeh if there are six guys brazenly selling locks right on the bridge it is easy to bust them - that is unless they are legally hawking locks with requisite permit, etc - if not then this is a no brainer you can email your Paris official - arrest those guys or get them out of there. Aiding and abetting 'vandalism' as you rightly call it now that the situation is getting out of hand.

On another note - another wonderful photo shoot - as they say a picture shows a thousand words and this shoot shows much more than that - the scope of the problem getting out of hand.

It has helped move me in the camp of 'too much - what was kind of kinky and cute is now a plague' and perhaps a dangerous one too.

Reagan would have said "Monsieur Hollande, tear down that bridge!"

When you see how many of the locks are engraved, they were certainly prepared long before the trip. :-<

Did the section of the Pont des Arts actually fall into the river? I saw somewhere that it weighed around 200kg. If something like that fell on a boat below, that could be a life-threatening event. I would think that the operators of the Seine cruises would weigh in on the risk.

The part that tore away was inward. Luckily no one on the bridge was hurt. I call this wayward love the KUDZU OF PARIS.
I hope no fish has swallowed a key. One woman was hit on the head while sailing by.

When you see how many of the locks are engraved, they were certainly prepared long before the trip>

which begats the idea then this this is a tourist lure - young couples coming to Paris mainly because of the change to lock up their love for each other in the City of Love.

MaineGG, the panels can only fall inwards rather than into the Seine due to steel cross beams on the outside.

Does anyone really believe that people will stop coming to Paris if they can no longer put their locks on a bridge?

There were some on the Millennium Bridge in London - I do hope that doesn't go any further. It's not a tradition, it's a recent invention.

PalenQ I'm afraid your assertion that London would have solved the problem long ago is a bit misguided. The lock craze is here and is growing. The only advantage we have over Paris is a lack of footbridges offering suitable points for attaching locks. Instead of putting them on bridges they have been appearing on anything that can take a lock - particularly loved are railings in front of basements in inner London. Locks are a problem for a lot of German cities - as well as small towns such as Dachau, where locks are removed on a regular basis. But more keep coming. The fad has been steadily spreading westward across Europe over the past decade or so.

Grindeldoo - well it is a pan-European phenomenon - much like throwing old athletic shoes over electric and phone wires over streets like now in many American towns, especially university towns.

I assume the fad will like many just fade away or like graffiti always being done.

A little is nice - serial doing of it is not.

And actually London come to think of it outside the tourist mecca has a lot of litter - at every overground station the fenced off areas I often seen are littered with old drinks cans, etc. So I guess the British are no more tidy than anyone - in spite of the many Keep Britain Tidy signs!

<<A little is nice>>

No, it's not. What on earth does that mean?

If you want the French to stop it, just tell them it is an idea that started in the Marais called bagels and locks.

<<A little is nice>>

The idea of commemorating one's love by leaving a mark on something timeless is as old as love itself. And I agree that it would be nice if it could somehow be just a little--just a little would add to the romance of Paris, IMO, anyway. But the locks are just too appealing an idea to too many people. I wish someone could come up with a way to allow people to leave a memento without ruining the city.

<<A little is nice>>

No, it's not. What on earth does that mean?

Well NewbE had little trouble figuring what I meant out - a few locks once in a while fine - that's cute - a barrage of locks that caused safety and ascetic problems that's too much.

Comprendez?