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Paris turns into 'open dump' as furious locals share pictures of graffiti and overflowing bins

Irate Parisians have accused the mayor of negligence - with some sharing images showing areas of their city dirty and rundown.

The #saccageparis (trashed Paris) hashtag has been trending on Twitter over Easter, with people showing images of overflowing bins, flytipping and graffiti.

Anne Hidalgo, the socialist mayor, is in the crosshairs of many of the online critics who accuse her of letting the streets go to ruin.

One wrote: "Paris has not been a city of light for years @Anne_Hidalgo has turned it into an open dump!"

Political rival Marine Le Pen also hit out at Ms Hidalgo and tweeted that the pictures were a "national suffering" which "break the hearts of lovers of Paris".

But some Twitter users said the campaign appeared to be a partisan political attack on the mayor, while Paris City Hall called it a "smear campaign".

It shared a picture of a few of the city's 2,500 hard-working refuse collectors, as well as some of Paris's more attractive views.

"Every day, city officials work to make Paris more beautiful and they do it well. Thanks to them," it said.

Paris City Hall tweeted that the problem was common to many French cities, and claimed some of the photos were old or taken before rubbish was collected.

COVID also meant that 10% of refuse workers were absent from work, it added.