Detox. No, the army is not mobilizing for garbage cans in Paris.

Where does the intox come from?

On Twitter on Friday, March 17, an image showing three soldiers activity around a pile of garbage, in a street of the Latin Quarter in Paris, was massively shared. Mike Borowski, far-right blogger and follower of fake news, relays the information and thus writes : “Obviously the soldiers were requisitioned to pick up the trash cans in Paris because of a reform that the politicians wanted. Where are we going ? This tweet, seen nearly 20,000 times, is part of a standoff between the Ministry of the Interior and the town hall of Paris, about the garbage collectors’ strike. As of Wednesday, Gérald Darmanin indeed asked Anne Hidalgo to requisition agents. “If the town hall does not follow up, the State will take over and requisition”, added the entourage of the minister.

Why is this wrong?

In reality, these soldiers were not requisitioned to pick up trash in the capital. During the day, on Twitter, the national gendarmerie denied, referring to a “localized initiative”. “It’s simply Republican guards in fatigues who recondition the waste for reasons of health and – above all – safety near their gendarmerie barracks. End of the story. A search on Google Maps confirms that the soldiers are indeed working at the intersection of rue Mouffetard and rue Ortolan, near the Monge barracks. Which actually houses a Republican Guard unit.