Left-wing officials in Paris have decided the city’s artificial beach will contain no sand this summer because its usual supplier expressed interest in building President Trump’s border wall with Mexico.
Franco-Swiss firm Lafargeholcim is the world’s biggest cement maker and has in recent years also supplied 3,000 tonnes of Normandy sand to cover the pop-up beach (pictured) on the banks of the Seine every summer free of charge.
But Paris council voted not to accept the free sand this year after Eric Olsen, Lafargeholcim’s chief executive, said he would be happy to work on the Mexican wall.
Officials said the ‘beach’ would have grass and plants instead of sand. Deputy mayor Bruno Julliard said: “We will do without [LafargeHolcim].”
Julliard said LafargeHolcim had previously courted controversy in Syria, where it has admitted making indirect payments to jihadist groups including Islamic State to avoid attacks on its cement factory in Jalabiya between 2012 and 2014.
Julliard added: “The aggravating circumstance is that LafargeHolcim has volunteered to collaborate on the harmful project of the (Mexican border) wall.”
The council said the company is at odds with Paris’s “ethical commitments”.
Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure investment plans have attracted excitement among corporate entities keen to secure lucrative contracts.
However, LafargeHolcim insisted that it is yet to make a formal bid for a contract in connection with the wall.
Trump’s advisers say the wall will cost $8 billion to build, but independent estimates suggest the total will be closer to $25 billion.