Parisian Residents Want Instagrammers Out Of Their Famous Street

Another public space is being harassed by the attack of Instagrammers who want the best photos of Paris for themselves. This week, residents living on Rue Crémieux, a cobblestone street with no cars, decorated with pastel-colored houses, are calling on the city to install gates on the road’s ends to block Instagrammers on evenings and weekends.

City Lab reported that the residents complain about how their picturesque small street has become absolutely packed with tourists during those mentioned hours. These tourists do not just come to admire the location quietly but cause quite a ruckus.

A resident said in an interview with a local radio station:

Scrolling through the Instagram account Club Crémieux (or the hashtag #ruecremieux) can shed some light on the reason behind the residents’ demand. Recent photos feature flash mobs happening in on the narrow street, visitors doing different yoga poses right in front of the residents’ doors, or wedding parties band. Instagrammers sometimes even carry with them props like sneakers, sunglasses or even a pair of undies, as if to turn the street into their impromptu studio.

Until this summer, the city of Paris needs to figure out a solution for this. In 2016, the Brooklyn Heights Association of New York shut down its historical house tour programs which had been around for 31 years after it received residents’ complaints on how visitors invaded their private homes. That very same year, Washington’s abandoned bridge which used to be locals’ hidden gem, was demolished after thrill-seeking Instagramers climbed up to the bridge, bypassing no trespassing sign.

This kind of issues also happens to other countries experiencing tourism growth, thanks to Instagram to a certain extent. Several countries like Cuba, New Zealand, Peru have seen a surge in the number of visitors since 2014, which has an impact smaller infrastructure capacities of these nations as well as raising the local costs up.