Paris, city of romance, rues new image as the dirty man of Europe

The French capital, despite efforts to deal with litter, graffiti and dog mess, is grubbier than ever

Parisians living on the Boulevard Saint-Martin, a main east-west axis north of the Seine, last week found that the plane trees along their street had been "tagged" with graffiti. But it's not new. Apartment doors, shop fronts, flower boxes, benches and lamp-posts have been covered in tags for weeks. Months even.

Along the boulevard to the landmark Place de la Ri(C)publique - looking shabby despite a 20m facelift six years ago - the homeless dozed in doorways or on benches, sleeping bags pulled over their heads. The pavements were littered with abandoned electric scooters and bicycles, and punctuated by dog mess and cigarette ends. A man walking west opened a new packet of cigarettes and threw the cellophane and silver paper on the ground.