"The French Are Iconic Protesters": Here's Why French People Are Threatening To Sh*t In The Seine River Ahead Of The Olympics

Paris will be hosting the 2024 Olympics.

It's a massive undertaking for any city and incredibly costly. Money is not only shelled out for event organizers, consultants, and travel costs, but cities have also paid for the building of additional roads, stadiums, railway lines, and an upgrade of airports to help manage inevitable crowds.

According to Insider, when Beijing hosted the Olympics in 2022, the final bill was between $3.9 and $38.5 billion.

So, considering the streets of Paris have been paraded by ongoing labor union protests demanding better working conditions, you can see why some French people feel government money could be better spent elsewhere.

Earlier this month, thousands of demonstrators marched through the capital with calls for better pay, and according to AP, unions have warned of striking during the Olympics if those who work holidays during the games are not fairly compensated. 

To highlight this, several demonstrators were seen burning the Olympic logo.

Now that you've got the full context, that brings us to Paris's Seine River, which will undergo a £1.2-billion state-backed cleanup ahead of the Olympics so athletes can safely swim its waters for events. Some are skeptical that the water will be clean in time, so President Emmanuel Macron and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, have sworn they'll take the first dip to prove it's all A-OK.

Cleaning the river is not exactly on the top of residents' priority list, as mentioned above, so the French have devised the ultimate protest: #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin. AKA, "I shit in the Seine on June 23."

Ya know, to ruin the mayor and president's first swim and thwart their money-sinking efforts.

The #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin hashtag quickly gained steam on Twitter (now unfortunately known as X), where people began sharing memes about taking a dump in the Seine. Here are some classics:

Translation: "⚠️ Loading installation 🚽"

Twitter: @PRussiet

Translation: "Well, it's an image... Above all, don't imitate it. I'm talking about diving... Don't dive. On the other hand, poop is recommended 😂😂😂"

Twitter: @AmarilloLeones

Translation: "Imagine it's you on June 23 in the Seine, you took too many Fuca sugared almonds"

Nickelodeon / Via Twitter: @de_cretins

Translation: "I'll be there."

Twitter: @KawaiiiGuts

News of the event — which, to be clear, seems to mostly be an internet joke and not something people actually plan on doing (for now) — has made its way to TikTok, where French people shared their thoughts.

"We the French know how to riot better than any country," one person said. "They put us in shit for four years, so now they have to swim in our shit."

"The whole of the organization of the Olympics has been an absolute fiasco from beginning to end," another added. "An outrageous waste of money. Horrible social repercussions... One of the biggest wastes of money of all has been the Olympic projects of cleaning out the Seine."

"The Seine is full of shit... [So] people are rallying and trying to figure out the actual logistics of how they can protest by shitting in that river... Bravo."

The reaction online is exactly what you may expect:

"Nobody in the world can caught up with French people protest they are on next level," one person wrote.

"The French have always been iconic protesters," another agreed.

Overall: "This level of petty," is simply put by most of us stunned bystanders.

Like I said, this is mostly an internet joke...but I will surely update you if things happen on June 23.