Tourists were evacuated from the iconic Pont des Arts bridge in Paris earlier this week after a portion of the bridge began to collapse under the weight of thousands of 'love locks'.

It is a custom for tourists visiting the City of Love to write their names on a padlock and secure it to the bridge as a sign of love.

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However, police were called to the area and forced to seal off a portion of the bridge after part of the railing collapsed under the weight of the many locks.

Luckily, no one was injured as the railing collapsed inwards, as opposed to outwards and into the river which is heavily populated by tourists in boats during this time of year.

"If it had landed on a passing boat, the results could have been disastrous. As it happened, nobody was injured." A local French police spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The Ponts des Arts was originally completed in 1804 and rebuilt in the 1980s after it was severely damaged during the two World Wars.

'Love lock' bridges have become popular in major destinations around the world and in recent years have even made it to big cities around Asia.

The recent incident in Paris has caused citizens to call for authorities to ban the custom in other major European cities, although it seems unlikely that officials can, or will, take that step.

It is also common practice for visitors to attach a padlock and then throw the key into the river below, in Paris' case, the River Seine.

Protestors of the custom have pointed not only the structural issues on the bridge itself, but the possible environmental repercussions of the thousands of rusted keys which now litter the bottom of the River Seine.

In January 2014, two American women living in Paris spearheaded a "No Love Locks" campaign to combat what many foresee as the visual and structural degradation of one of Paris' most popular areas.

TagsParis, Love, lock, bridge, collapses, Pont des Arts