Paris’ Mayor Anne Hidalgo has hit back at President Donald Trump’s negative remarks about the city, using Walt Disney characters.
She tweeted a picture of herself with Mickey and Minnie Mouse celebrating Paris’ “dynamism and spirit of openness”.
French President Francois Hollande said such criticisms were “never good”.
At a speech to conservative activists, Donald Trump cited a friend who no longer wanted to take his family to Paris.
The president also criticized Europe’s handling of terrorism, saying that Americans could not let recent attacks happen in the US.
More than 230 people have died in a series of attacks in France since the beginning of 2015, including in January and November of that year in Paris and in Nice in July 2016.
France has been under a state of emergency for more than a year.
Speaking at the CPAC on February 24, Donald Trump sought to justify his crackdown on immigration by criticizing the effect it had had on some European countries.
The president singled out Paris, mentioning a friend called “Jim” who used to be a regular visitor to the city but had stopped going in recent years because “Paris is no longer Paris”.
“Take a look at what’s happening to our world, folks, and we have to be smart… We can’t let that happen to us,” Donald Trump went on.
Anne Hidalgo stressed the inclusivity and energy of Paris, tweeting a picture of her launching a tourism campaign at the Eiffel Tower.
The remarks came as France celebrated the 25th anniversary of the theme park Disneyland Paris.
She also challenged the suggestion that tourist numbers from the United States were in decline, saying reservations were up 30% in 2017.
President Hollande, meanwhile, said Donald Trump’s remarks were no way to behave towards an ally.
“It is never good to show the slightest mistrust towards a friendly country,” he said.
“That is not what I would do towards a friendly country and I would ask the American president not to do it to France.”
In a reference to France’s tighter gun control laws, Francoise Hollande said: “There are no weapons circulating here. There are no people who take weapons to shoot into the crowd simply for the satisfaction of causing drama and tragedy.”
According to figures published by the Paris Office of Tourism, 7,356,945 foreign tourists arrived at hotels in the city of Paris between January and November 2016, 11.9% fewer than in the same period the previous year.
Among American tourists the decline was only slighter smaller – there were 1,387,191 hotel arrivals, down 9.9%.
In the same period there was a slight rise in the number of tourists from other parts of France, of 0.3% to almost 6 million.
The 2015 figures mostly cover the period before the November 13 attacks which shocked the country and left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.
No figures were given for tourists staying in non-hotel accommodation such as Airbnb.
President Barack Obama has visited the scene of the Bataclan concert hall attack in Paris, after arriving in the French capital for the UN climate change summit.
Accompanied by President Francois Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Barack Obama laid a single white rose at the venue where 90 people were killed.
Security was stepped up for the visit, with helicopters flying overhead and roads in the area sealed off.
About 150 world leaders are attending the climate change summit which opens on November 30.
Barack Obama’s motorcade went straight to the Bataclan shortly after the US president arrived at Orly Airport.
After placing his rose, Barack Obama stood in silence with his head bowed and his hands clasped in front of him. He then walked away with his arms around Francois Hollande and Anne Hidalgo.
Paris terror attacks – claimed by the ISIS – on November 13 left 130 people dead and more than 360 wounded.
Gunmen opened fire or set off bombs at seven locations in Paris.
France is still in a state of emergency after the attacks.
French prosecutors say at least 11 militants in three co-ordinated teams were involved in the killings.
Nine are dead and two suspects – Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Abrini – are still on the run.
French police have carried out hundreds of raids across the country and raids have also taken place in the Belgian capital Brussels where some of the attackers were from.
On November 29, more than 200 demonstrators were arrested in Paris after clashes with police.
It came as climate change activists formed a human chain along the route of a march that was called off after the attacks.
Some of the demonstrators in Place de la Republique were apparently protesting against France’s state of emergency, and have been disowned by the main organizers.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has said she will sue Fox News for its inaccurate reporting about the city following the attack on the magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Fox News claimed there were “no-go areas” in Paris where police and non-Muslims refused to go.
Anne Hidalgo said the people of Paris had been “insulted” and the city’s image had been “damaged”.
Fox News has since apologized for making “regrettable errors” on air regarding the Muslim population.
Anne Hidalgo told CNN: “When we’re insulted and when we’ve had an image, then I think we’ll have to sue. I think we’ll have to go to court, in order to have these words removed.
“The image of Paris has been prejudiced, and the honor of Paris has been prejudiced.”
In response, Fox News executive vice president Michael Clemente said: “We empathize with the citizens of France as they go through a healing process and return to everyday life.
“However, we find the Mayor’s comments regarding a lawsuit misplaced.”
The network has also apologized for comments by terror expert Steven Emerson, who claimed Birmingham was “totally Muslim” and ruled by Sharia law.
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro subsequently said Steven Emerson had “made a serious factual error that we wrongly let stand unchallenged and uncorrected”.
Steven Emerson said he had made an “inexcusable error”.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has called for diesel cars to be banned from the French capital by 2020 as part of plans to reduce pollution.
Anne Hidalgo told France’s Journal du Dimanche newspaper she wanted only ultra low-emission vehicles on the capitals’ main thoroughfares.
She also suggested more pedestrian areas and a doubling of cycle lanes.
A partial car ban was imposed in March after the capital’s air quality was found to be one of the worst on record.
“I want diesel cars out of Paris by 2020,” Anne Hidalgo said.
“Today 60% of Parisians already do not have cars, compared with 40% in 2001. Things are changing quickly.”
Anne Hidalgo’s plans also include limits on the tourist buses that clog Paris streets, banning trucks from cutting through the city, and adding electric vans to the city’s car-sharing scheme.
She said there was a serious public health risk in the capital, with Parisians living on average six or seven months less than people not exposed to the same levels of pollution.
The plans will be discussed by the city council on December 9.
Some 84% of Paris residents see fighting pollution as a priority and 54% supported a diesel ban in the city by 2020, according a poll carried out for the Journal du Dimanche.
Research by the World Health Organization has shown that diesel engines, although more fuel efficient than petrol engines, produce more pollutants.
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