The gendarmerie reacts to the photograph of soldiers in uniform picking up garbage in Paris

Soldiers were photographed picking up garbage accumulated on the sidewalk along their barracks, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. In the midst of a garbage collectors’ strike, the national gendarmerie reacted to the image shared on Twitter.

As evidenced by a photo shared on March 17 on social networks, soldiers proceeded in the morning to collect garbage that accumulated on one of the sidewalks of rue Mouffetard, in the fifth arrondissement of the capital.

“It is simply about Republican guards in fatigues who recondition the waste for reasons of healthiness and – above all – safety near their gendarmerie barracks. End of story”, the national gendarmerie was quick to react to the multiple reactions aroused by the snapshot in the midst of the social movement of the garbage collectors.

Contacted by RT France, the owner of a business overlooking the corner of the street in question confirmed that the intervention had indeed taken place the same day. “It was soldiers from the Monge barracks who carried out the collection because the garbage cans were ripped open and overflowed on the sidewalk on their side”, testified our interlocutor.

This episode comes as a major garbage collectors’ strike, which began more than ten days ago, is at the origin of an unprecedented accumulation of waste in several districts of the capital. Indeed, several incineration centers are at a standstill, due to a social movement aimed at protesting against the highly contested pension reform carried out by the government. On March 16, the prefect of police, on the orders of the Ministry of the Interior, ordered requisitions to empty the trash cans that are piled up on the sidewalks of Paris. As a reminder, Elisabeth Borne announced the same day before the hemicycle of the National Assembly the use of 49.3 of the Constitution in order to pass the reform.