The Eiffel Tower remained closed on Monday after workers went on strike over the removal of female employees during a visit by a delegation from a Hindu religious organisation to the Paris landmark on Saturday.
The visit took place on the same day as a cultural event on a boat on the Seine, organised by the Hindu spiritual movement BAPS.
BAPS, which is criticised by part of the Indian diaspora as particularly conservative and nationalist, inaugurated its first major temple in France on Sunday, in Bussy-Saint-Georges, near Paris.
In a statement, Eiffel Tower staff denounced «professional instructions under which female employees were removed, replaced and made invisible because of their gender» during the delegation’s visit.
The Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE) acknowledged that the Hindu delegation had requested that the visit be organised in a way that would limit «interactions with women». It also admitted that «these terms should not have been accepted».
«It is unacceptable that the terms demanded by the Hindu delegation could have been tolerated», Paris Socialist Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said in a post on X, adding that «an investigation will be conducted as soon as possible».
A meeting between staff and SETE management was held on Monday, while the landmark remained closed throughout the day. A SETE staff representative said the Eiffel Tower was expected to reopen normally on Tuesday morning.
«We will shed light on what happened and draw the appropriate conclusions», SETE President Ariel Weil told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Source: CNA