Campaign against Paris love locks will make a statement on Valentine's Day

The war over a symbol of love in Paris will be renewed this Valentine's Day.

On one side, couples in love with love are attaching padlocks to a bridge in Paris as a symbol of their devotion to each other. On the other, Parisians who say the locks threaten the beauty and safety of the city's bridges are working to end the practice.

Beginning Wednesday, No Love Locks, a group started to combat the locks, is staging a social media campaign encouraging supporters to post one message a day through Feb. 14 with the hashtag #NoLoveLocksDay. 

This Valentine's Day will be the third time the group has used the romantic holiday to bring attention to locks on bridges in the most romantic of cities.

Love locks on the Pont des Arts, in Paris, France. Credit: Getty Images

The campaign got traction on social media last year, but has been quiet so far this year.

There have been real signs of progress: Last year, Parisian officials announced the city would permanently remove locks on the Pont des Arts, one of the most impacted bridges, and change the design of the bridge's railing to prevent more. 

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But there are many other spots where people are leaving locks.

"We are not finished with our work," Lisa Anselmo, one of the founders of No Love Locks, told Mashable. "Until there is a ban on the practice, Paris will never get a handle on the situation here, which has become a kind of mania with little respect for Parisians or their heritage sites."

"Until there is a ban on the practice, Paris will never get a handle on the situation here."

The city has not said they will ban "love locks," Anselmo says, but they are considering it.

Temporary panels were put up on the Pont des Arts, until plexiglass panels were installed. Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Part of No Love Lock's message has been an appeal to people's decency in being a "conscious global citizen."

One man’s expression of love should never come at the expense of another’s heritage. That’s not love; that’s ego. Our 3rd annual Valentine’s Day campaign seeks to spread the message that if you love Paris, you won’t burden the city, or the people with your locks. It’s not a Parisian tradition, but they are paying the price for it with their tax resources, the ecological health of their river, and ultimately, their heritage. Give Paris Love (Not Locks), and be a conscious global citizen. #NoLoveLocksDay

Paris is not the only city to have been overrun with "love locks," so the global message could eventually have impacts on other regions as well.

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