Overview
- The video, which circulated Sunday night, shows a municipal cleaning worker using a pressure washer to send cans, bottles and other litter into the Canal Saint‑Martin and has been viewed more than three million times.
- The City of Paris said the filmed action did not follow its rule to blow debris toward the sidewalk for pickup and said it would take measures in response to the footage.
- Officials defended the wider cleaning effort, saying about 1,500 agents were mobilized after large festivities to clear litter under extreme heat and that specialized boats make several weekly passes to collect canal waste.
- Bathers have been allowed in the canal through July 4 because of an exceptional heatwave, a detail that raised public health and reputational concerns and intensified public outrage over the footage.
- The municipality has acknowledged the deviation and promised follow‑up steps but has not published investigation findings or specified disciplinary outcomes, leaving further probes and any public‑health checks pending.