EIFFEL TOWER CLOSED AFTER STAFF STRIKE OVER FEMALE EMPLOYEE REMOVAL

The Eiffel Tower closed on Monday following a strike by staff in protest at the removal of female employees during a private visit by a Hindu religious delegation on Saturday. Workers told French media that the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a Hindu religious organisation, had requested that female staff not be present during their tour. According to staff accounts reported to French newspapers, female employees were instructed to "remain invisible" and were either asked to leave their posts and remain in back rooms or replaced by male colleagues. The delegation, comprising around a hundred people, was accompanied only by male staff during their visit to the tower's third floor, workers said.

SETE, the Eiffel Tower operating company, explicitly implemented the measure according to staff members' statements. The closure was initially attributed to "operational reasons" before the strike's cause became public. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire expressed solidarity with the striking workers, stating in a statement that "it is not acceptable that such conditions can be tolerated" and that the values demonstrated did not reflect those the Eiffel Tower should uphold.

BAPS had been celebrating the official inauguration of its new temple in Paris as part of a 13-day cultural festival in the Île-de-France region. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a virtual address to the celebrations on Sunday, stating that Indian-French relations "have reached new heights." The incident prompted a public dispute over workplace equality and the accommodation of religious practices in French public spaces.