Two emblematic Parisian monuments paid tribute on Saturday May 2 to the healthcare staff and all those mobilized in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Eiffel Tower and the Montparnasse Tower sparkled at 8 p.m. to close the movement initiated by the Empire State Building in New York, entitled #HeroesShineBright.

This Saturday evening, @LaTourMontpar and @LaTourEiffel illuminated pay homage to caregivers and all those mobilized in front of # COVID__19. #HeroesShineBright pic.twitter.com/wrilt7vbKY

- Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) May 2, 2020

Then, at 8:30 p.m., the white flickering of the edges and the top of the Montparnasse tower then accelerated, turning red to mark its support even more intensely, like a beating heart, while the Eiffel Tower deployed at the same moment his signature flicker.

In New York, the Empire State Building launched this operation on April 24 in tribute to all those on the front line in the fight against the Covid-19, and each evening the New York building dedicates "its illumination - different color - to an organization intervening in the fight against the pandemic: the nursing staff, the New York transport company MTA, the police or the American army, "explained in a press release, the operating company of the Eiffel Tower.

An international operation

As the coronavirus epidemic has killed more than 240,000 people worldwide, according to an AFP count updated on Saturday, and shutdown more than half of humanity, several tours around the world will take part to this operation and will light up "in red flashing like a beating heart", like the Euromast in Rotterdam, the 360 ​​Chicago, the Burj Khalifa (United Arab Emirates), the CN tower (Canada), the Macau tower (China), Busan tower (South Korea), the Ostankino TV Tower (Russia), the Tallinn TV Tower (Estonia) and the Ovni Tower (Slovakia). 

Since March, the Eiffel Tower, 324 meters high, has been paying homage every evening to those mobilized in the face of the coronavirus, by displaying "Thank you" and by projecting messages encouraging them to stay at home. The French, like many of their European neighbors, have gotten into the habit of cheering nursing staff on their windows every day at 8 p.m.

With AFP

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