Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has sparked a debate about the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower.
According to BBC, the Paris mayor did not want to remove the Olympic rings from the Eiffel Tower even after the summer Games.
Hidalgo told French newspaper Ouest-France, “The decision is up to me, and I have the agreement of the IOC (International Olympic Committee). So yes, they (the rings) will stay on the Eiffel Tower.
She also said that the current rings, 29 m (95 ft) wide, 15 m high, and 30 tonne, are too heavy, and they will be replaced later by the lighter version.
The mayor claimed that the ‘French have fallen in love with Paris again’ during the Olympics and she wants to keep ‘this festive spirit to remain.’
Some of the citizens backed her decision, saying, “The Eiffel Tower is very beautiful; the rings add color. It's very nice to see it like this.”
Meanwhile, others have criticized it, saying that the rings will ‘defile’ the iconic monument of the country.
A local resident told France Bleu, “It's a historic monument, why defile it with rings? It was good for the Olympics, but now it's over; we can move on, maybe we should remove them and return the Eiffel Tower to how it was before.”
The five rings, blue, yellow, black, green, and red, were installed on the Eiffel Tower before the Paris Olympics and were expected to be removed after the Paralympics closing ceremony on September 8.
