Paris launches an operation against the "love locks"

Paris City Hall wants it to "remain the capital of romance and love," but with no padlocks on its bridges: a vast operation will be launched for tourists not to tip the "locks of love" on bridges of the City of Lights, AFP reports.

After the Pont des Arts, a pedestrian aria, the tourists headed to the Pont Neuf, the oldest stone bridge in the French capital. “We will remove nearly one million padlocks, or 45 tones,” said city official Bruno Julliard, criticizing the “ugliness” of the locks on some of Paris’s most beautiful bridges.

"In the coming days there will be installed panels and signal ground on several bridges and especially on the Pont Neuf", declared for AFP Bruno Julliard, first deputy mayor of Paris, after a technical meeting to achieve a device to deter the installing of locks.

"Love padlocks" that couples catch on the bridges as proof of their love, in Paris and in other cities all over the world, invaded a few years ago Pont des Arts. Last year the authorities start removing them after sections of the railings became "weakened under the weight," the city's council said on its website. That poses a risk to people using the bridge, authorities say.

"We want all the people who are in love, we want them to come to Paris but we don't want them to use love locks," said Bruno Julliard, the first deputy to the mayor of Paris.

City Hall intends to place explanatory panels and banners in both French and English, with texts like "No locks, Paris thanks you" or "Declare your love otherwise," says Bruno Julliard. "We want Paris to remain the capital of romance and love that lovers from across the world come to Paris. It is a very romantic city and particularly the River Seine, but we must also protect this heritage," said Juillard.