Paris bridge's locks of love are taken down

Paris--

The padlocks that weigh heavily on the sides of the Pont des Arts tell stories dear to the lovers who affixed them to the celebrated bridge's iron grillwork.

And just as many romances melt away, now many of the locks representing relationships that may or may not have lasted will most likely suffer the same fate as the Paris city fathers try to preserve the bridge.

City workers, using a crane and wheeled dollies, began to dismantle the wire mesh panels on which hundreds of thousands of lovers expressed their affections in what they thought would be an ironclad statement: a metal lock, usually etched with the couple's initials, attached to the bridge, and the key tossed into the Seine River below.

Bruno Julliard, the deputy mayor in charge of culture, who supervised the removal of the locks, tried to be sensitive to the feelings of those who had placed them there, saying that Paris was still "the capital of love, the capital of romance."

But he urged people to find other ways to express their fervency.

Mr Julliard said the removal of the locks, however unsentimental, was necessary for security and aesthetic reasons.

The city will temporarily replace the bridge's lock-laden grills this week with panels painted by street artists, and later replace those with custom-made Plexiglas to protect the historic iron grillwork. The Plexiglas will allow pedestrians to once again see the Seine through the grillwork - the locks had obscured the view.

Scores of tourists, blocked from going onto the bridge (and adding their locks), watched, cameras held aloft, as the operation commenced at midday under a cloudy sky. There was an air of wistfulness among many onlookers. 

Janice and Samantha Clay, a mother and daughter from Atlanta, visiting Paris on a graduation trip, were a little regretful.

"It's sad," Janice Clay said, adding, "If it had never been there, it wouldn't be a bad thing, but it's on your bucket list for Paris: See the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the bridge of love."