The Eiffel Tower shut its doors on Monday after workers staged a strike following the removal of female staff from their posts to accommodate a visiting Hindu religious delegation, according to workers and management.
Visit and Staff Displacement
The visit took place on Saturday and involved roughly 100 people connected to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a Hindu spiritual organisation with temples across cities including London, Los Angeles, and Sydney. BAPS had consecrated its first major temple in France the following day, in a suburb of Paris.
According to BBC, staff union representative Diane Davoine told Reuters that female workers were displaced the moment the group arrived. "During the visit of this delegation, women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there," she said.
Staff Reaction and Management Response
Davoine described the mood among staff as one of collective humiliation. "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," she said, adding that tensions had built throughout the weekend before workers convened on Monday morning to demand dialogue with management and guarantees that such treatment would never be repeated.
The Société d'Exploitation de la tour Eiffel (SETE), which operates the monument, confirmed that the delegation had asked for the visit to be arranged in a way that limited "interactions with women." The company told AFP that "these conditions should not have been accepted" and were "not in line with SETE's values, nor with the principles of equality between men and women." Management also apologised to staff over the incident.
SETE president Ariel Weil said: "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."
Political Condemnation and Investigation
The incident drew swift condemnation from French political figures. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire announced an investigation into the circumstances of the visit. "I am taking note of the anger expressed by the employees of the Eiffel Tower, and I want to tell them that their discontent is legitimate," he wrote on X.
Hard-right leader Marine Le Pen said: "In France, we will never accept that the presence of women be 'limited.'" Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who has declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2027, added: "In France, no culture, no belief, no worship, nothing nor anyone can come to dictate to women their place."
National Assembly president Yaël Braun-Pivet was equally direct: "I refuse to allow women to be compelled to step aside in order to meet the demands of foreign visitors."
In a post on X, the BAPS temple in Paris said the trip was "arranged in conjunction with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours to avoid disrupting or inconveniencing others," and apologised "for any pain or inconvenience caused."
Visit Numbers and Context
Legit.ng earlier reported that the Eiffel Tower in Paris welcomed 6.3 million visitors last year, its management company said Friday, more than came in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.
