Section of Paris bridge begins to collapse under weight of thousands of 'love locks' left by tourists (including Kourtney Kardashian)



P o lice said it was lucky nobody was injured by the bridge section that fell



Tourists place padlocks on the bridge to seal their love

Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick have left padlocks at bridge



Locals are calling for the practice to be banned to protect the bridge



Tourists have been evacuated from one of the most iconic bridges in Paris after it began to crumble under the weight of thousands of 'love locks'.



A chunk of the Pont des Arts bridge fell away on Sunday night and the police were called to seal off the area which remains closed today.

It is a popular custom for tourists to secure a padlock to the bridge branded with their names as a romantic gesture, with Kourtney Kardashian and boyfriend Scott Disick also indulging in the tradition.



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Sealing their love: Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick attached a padlock to the Pont des Arts when they visited Paris with their son Mason No crossing: A wooden board covers a section of the bridge railing that collapsed under the weight of the padlocks Dangerous: Police said it was lucky the rail collapsed inwards rather than out into the river below, which is often busy with tourist boats

Kim Kardashian has also been pictured attaching a lock to the bridge when she visited Paris while pregnant.

But the weight of the locks is damaging the metal Ponts des Arts, which was originally completed in 1804 but rebuilt in the 1980s following damage in the two World Wars.

A local French police spokesperson said: 'A metal grille had fallen inwards, rather than into the river.

'If it had landed on a passing boat, the results could have been disastrous. As it happened, nobody was injured.



'The bridge was evacuated, and will now be closed until Monday morning at the earliest.'

Celebrity trend: Kourtney, pictured with Scott and son Mason, was captured on camera attaching the lock for TV show Keeping up with the Kardashians

In the family: Kim Kardashian and her mother Kris Jenner also stopped at Pont des Arts on a visit to Paris to attach a padlock to the bridge Vying for space: There are now so many padlocks on the bridge that some tourists have taken to attaching theirs to lampposts too

If follows growing calls for the padlocks - which also blight other major European cities including London - to be banned.



It has become common practice for visitors to buy a padlock, attach it to a bridge, and then throw the key into the river, in Paris's case the Seine.



The practice has been encouraged by American celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who spent a lot of time dating in Paris before their wedding in Italy last month.



THE PONT DES ARTS AND ITS PADLOCK HISTORY...

The famous Paris bridge is said to offer some of the best views along the Seine It was first built between 1802 and 1804, under the reign of Napoleon, and is a favourite with artists

Due to damage sustained in WW1 and WW2, the bridge was rebuilt between 1981 and 1984 The 'love lock' tradition began in Hungary in the early 20th century, based on a tale of a woman who lost her soldier love to another during WW1. Young women started symbolising their love by attaching padlocks to the bridge where the abandoned woman used to meet her lost lover. The padlock tradition took hold in Western Europe in the early 2000s and was popularised by an Italian book I Want You by Federico Moccia, in which a couple adds a padlock to the Ponte Milvio in Rome. In Paris, the ritual began in 2008 on the Pont des Arts but has since extended to the Pont de l’Archevêché near Notre Dame too. Othe bridges encountering problems from a vast quantity of padlocks being affixed are the Ponte Vecchio in Florence and the Ponte l’Accademia in Venice.



A 'Not Love Locks' campaign was launched in Paris by two Americans in February, in response to some 700,000 padlocks appearing around the city. All bridges have been blighted by the practice, but the Pont des Arts now looks like two solid walls of metal divided by a wooden walkway.

'It's so out of control,' says Lisa Anselmo, who co-founded the campaign with fellow writer Lisa Taylor Huff.

'People are climbing up lampposts to clip locks on, hanging over the bridge to put them on the other side of the rail, risking their lives to attach one. It's a kind of mania. It's not about romance any more - it's just about saying 'I did it.' On tour: Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has also visited the iconic Ponts des Arts with friends

Protests: A campaign has been started to stop the practice of fixing locks to the bridge - a problem that blights iconic bridges across Europe Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist mayor of Paris, has so far resisted calls to take action over the vandalism, but the bridge collapse could change that.

A spokesman for the City Hall said: 'If the tradition continues to grow in popularity and causes too much damage to the city's monuments, solutions will be considered in a bid to address the problem.'



The pedestrian Pont des Arts, which links the Louvre Museum and the Institut de France, is an exact replica of one designed by Napoleon Bonaparte's architects in 1802.

Love locks: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West also attached a padlock to the bridge when they were in Paris Lookout point: The bridge is famed for its spectacular views along the Seine

The original was damaged by German bombs during both world wars, but a faithful reproduction was built during the 1980s.

