Paris is shitting itself over the 2024 Summer Olympics

If you’re thinking of coming to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics, don’t. Parisians are already placing their bets on two possible scenarios: The Games are either going to be completely chaotic, held alongside riots and buildings set on fire, or be completely cancelled.

Less than a month to the big day, things have never looked murkier for those of us living here, those planning to come and everyone else in between. What was an occasion to proudly look forward to for the French — with the Games returning to the city exactly 100 years since it was last hosted in Paris in 1924 — has quickly taken a (literally) shitty turn. 

Smear campaign

Delayed construction, heightened transportation and accommodation costs, Parisians being Parisians — unshy with their methods of protesting and speaking their unhappiness — and unprecedented political upheaval make this edition one visitors should stay well away from.

To protest the commencement of the Games, Parisians rallied online, calling for everyone to defecate in the Seine River, the location for the opening ceremony, and where the 10km open water swimming and triathlon swimming events are set to take place. 

In February, President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo vowed to swim in the iconic river, a practice banned since 1923 due to its health risks, to prove its water safety levels. An estimated €1.4 billion ($2.03 billion), funded by the national government and the capital's authorities, has been pumped into cleaning the river. 

More than just being sceptical about its effectiveness, Parisians showed just how unhinged they can really be by starting the #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin (#IShitInTheSeineOn23June) collective, a call for everyone to defecate in the Seine. Their justification: Since “they plunged us into shit, it’s their turn to plunge into our shit”. 

Effective or not, the test swim has since been postponed, at least until after the French elections, itself another spanner that’s the latest to be thrown into the Olympic gear.

Possible political unrest

Following a landslide defeat by the hard-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella in the European Parliament elections, Macron stunned the country by dissolving his centrist and liberalist Assemblee Nationale and calling for a snap legislative election scheduled for June 30 and July 7, 2024. 

Given the elections’ proximity to the start of the Games, growing concerns are becoming very real among residents that riots will take to the streets regardless of how the voting results play out.

Cars have been set ablaze and infrastructure destroyed for much less in protests that halted the city — throw in anti-immigration sentiments on one end and anti-fascist attitudes on the other and the riots can easily escalate to levels never before seen. 

Caught in the line of fire will be eager-eyed unassuming tourists, who are already fat targets for pickpockets and economic casualties of stressed transportation systems, doubled accommodation costs, and more.

A strain on public transport 

All these merely cap a long list of reasons that leave Parisians highly disgruntled about visitors. The 30^th most densely populated city in the world has 2 million residents, a number it can barely manage. 

The 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games is expecting 10 to 15 million visitors more. Office workers in central areas close to event locations are being told to “take time off” or “work from home” by Transport Minister Clément Beaune to make things easier to accommodate this influx. 

Traffic situations are predicted to become “hardcore” during this period. If the French have a reputation for being unfriendly, imagine extra pissed off French people who have just been told to make way for visitors at their own inconvenience — and expense.

The metros, many people's main transportation system, will see an increase in single ticket prices from €2 to €2.10 and book of ten tickets from €16.90 to €32. Certain areas will also be restricted to people who live there, accessible by a Pass Jeux “Games Pass” QR code that can be downloaded onto a smartphone or printed out. 

The last time restrictions like this were put in place was during the peak of Covid-19. Let’s just say they didn’t fare well among the people of a country whose motto of fundamental values mentions liberty before and above equality and fraternity.

Coming for a gamble

As we near the games, sentiments quickly turn from discontented to desperate. Videos are circulating online of residents begging foreigners not to visit Paris, each raking up millions of views. 

On TikTok, a video by Miranda Stacevic, a French-American living in Paris, shows her exasperatedly asking, “If you were planning to come to Paris for the Olympics, why? Do not come. Do not come over here!” Another Parisian college student, Leo Nora, warned that Paris during the Games would be “dangerous” and a “living hell”. 

If you’re thinking of coming to Paris for the Olympics, those of us living in Paris who can get away from it will be doing exactly so. If you come, you’ll want to get in on the bet: a city in flames or a completely cancelled Games?