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🇩🇪 Germany /Culture & Society

Paris: Eiffel Tower closed after strike

From Die Zeit · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Eiffel Tower employees staged a one-day strike after female staff were temporarily removed at the request of a Hindu visitor group from India.
  • The Paris landmark remained closed on Monday and was expected to reopen on Tuesday after the operator said the arrangement should not have been accepted.
  • The incident prompted criticism from Paris officials and the tower’s employees, who said the instructions excluded women because of their gender.

The Eiffel Tower was closed on Monday after its employees walked out for a day in protest at the temporary removal of female staff during a visit by a Hindu religious group from India.

Operational reasons

· Eiffel Tower operator SeteThe tower’s website used this phrase to describe why female staff were temporarily removed.

The group had asked that women working at the Paris landmark not be present during its visit. The request was granted on Saturday, when around 100 members of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, known as Baps, visited the tower’s third floor. The group was accompanied exclusively by male staff.

The employees criticized the “operational instructions” that led female workers to be “excluded, replaced and made invisible because of their gender.” The Eiffel Tower’s website initially cited “operational reasons” for the arrangement. The newspaper Le Parisien, citing employees, reported that the female staff were removed after the group made its request.

excluded, replaced and made invisible because of their gender

· Eiffel Tower employeesEmployees criticized the instructions used during the Hindu group’s visit.

The tower’s operating company, Sete, later said the Hindu delegation had asked for the visit to be organized to limit “interactions with women.” Sete acknowledged that “these conditions” should not have been accepted. Sete President Ariel Weil said the company would establish what happened and draw the necessary conclusions. He also expressed understanding for the employees’ reaction.

These conditions should not have been accepted.

· Ariel Weil, president of Eiffel Tower operator SeteWeil acknowledged that the arrangement limiting interactions with women should not have been approved.

The incident caused anger in the French capital. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire called it “unacceptable” that the tower’s management had agreed to the delegation’s conditions. Weil, who is also mayor of a central Paris district, wrote that “no religious reason can justify a distinction based on gender or any other discriminatory conduct when receiving visitors.” Baps is close to the conservative Hindu nationalist party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The group inaugurated its first major temple in France near Paris on Sunday. The Eiffel Tower was expected to reopen as usual on Tuesday.

No religious reason can justify a distinction based on gender or any other discriminatory conduct when receiving visitors.

· Ariel Weil, president of Eiffel Tower operator Sete and mayor of a central Paris districtWeil condemned the treatment of female staff and called for clarity about what happened.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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