Paris tour guides hold posters of the Mona Lisa painting outside the Louvre museum (Reuters)
Paris:
Dozens of Parisian tourist guides wearing masks and holding portraits of Mona Lisa demonstrated on Monday outside the Louvre museum to seek more government support to help them overcome the coronavirus crisis and the shortage of tourists.
They gathered at the foot of the Louvre’s glass pyramid when the museum reopened to visitors for the first time in four months after it closed.
In May, France announced measures worth 18 billion euros ($ 19 billion) to support its tourism sector from the damage caused by the global pandemic.
But protester Margot Schmitz said the funds did not reach tour guides like her, most of whom were on short-term contracts and were facing impending financial hardship.
“The government is turning a deaf ear,” Schmitz told Reuters before the protest. “We have no voice.”
It may take months before foreigners return to Paris in numbers before the crisis.
The Louvre said it expected 7,000 visitors on Monday, but after a first wave, managers expect the figures to be only a fifth of the pre-epidemic levels – which will likely make it one more serene experience than usual.
(Report by Noemie Olive; Edition by Richard Lough and Raissa Kasolowsky)
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
