Paris Plages will have no sand in Trump ‘wall’ protest

There will be no sand on this year’s Paris Plages beach beside the Seine as the city makes a protest against the long-term supplier, Lafarge, for bidding to build Donald Trump’s Mexican wall and for indirectly funding Daesh in Syria.

Paris city officials said the mairie had been preparing to end its links with the Franco-Swiss construction company after the Daesh revelations – the firm had reached deals with armed groups in Syria to allow its cement works to stay in production – and its bid to build the wall had confirmed them.

There had been previous complaints about the need to bring thousands of tonnes of Normandy sand over the years and Lafarge had supplied 3,000 tonnes a year for free – sparking some complaints of favouritism in council contracts.

Now the mairie is planning for a new-look Paris Plages and will reap the benefit of the opening of the Parc des Rives de Seine to offer green areas with more activities and for a longer period.

Parti de Gauche councillor Danielle Simonnet spoke out about the sand supplied by LafargeHolCim last summer when she told a council meeting: “The sand we were going to use for the beaches was stained with blood.”