Eiffel Tower closes after staff protest removal of female workers during religious visit

The Eiffel Tower closed on Monday after staff walked out over the removal of female workers during a visit by a Hindu religious delegation, a move a union representative said left employees humiliated.

About 100 people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, known as BAPS, visited the Paris landmark on Saturday. Diane Davoine, a representative of the staff union, said women were told to leave their work positions as the delegation arrived so that men could take their places.

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So that absolutely does not go down well with the employees, with women obviously, who are all humiliated by what happened, by the way some were treated.

Management later apologised, but tensions grew over the weekend. “So that absolutely does not go down well with the employees, with women obviously, who are all humiliated by what happened, by the way some were treated,” Davoine said. She said workers met to open a dialogue with management and ensure women would never again be treated that way at the company.

Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel, the company operating the monument, confirmed that the delegation had asked for the visit to be organised to limit “interactions with women,” according to AFP. The company said those conditions “should not have been accepted” and were inconsistent with its values and the principle of equality between women and men.

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It is clearly not an acceptable practice. I restate the Eiffel Tower’s commitment to republican values and to the equality of men and women.

“It is clearly not an acceptable practice. I restate the Eiffel Tower’s commitment to republican values and to the equality of men and women,” SETE President Ariel Weil said.

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Equality between women and men will never stop at the foot of our historical monuments, nor anywhere in this city. It must be applied everywhere, for everyone.

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said an investigation would be launched. “Equality between women and men will never stop at the foot of our historical monuments, nor anywhere in this city. It must be applied everywhere, for everyone,” he wrote on X.

BAPS said the visit had been arranged with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours to avoid disrupting others. The organisation apologised “for any pain or inconvenience caused” and said it believed in mutual respect and service. Its first major temple in France was consecrated in Paris’s suburbs on Sunday.

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Arranged in conjunction with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours to avoid disrupting or inconveniencing others.