Tourists excited to fulfil life-long dreams of heading up the Eiffel Tower were left disappointed on Monday, with the iconic Parisian landmark closed to the public as staff staged a walkout.
The famed Paris structure was forced to shut up shop for the day as workers went on strike after female employees were said to have been moved out of sight during the visit of a Hindu religious group.
The row began after the visit of around 100 people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Hindu movement visited the landmark in the French capital on Saturday.
Union representative Diane Davoine said that female workers had been “moved away from their workstations as the delegation passed by” during the visit.
“During the visit of this delegation, women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there,” she told Reuters.
“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.
“Tensions mounted over the weekend, so this morning [Monday], the employees decided to meet: first, to open a dialogue with management, and second, to ensure that women are never treated this way at the company again.”
Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel (SETE), the company that operates the monument in Paris, confirmed the delegation had asked the visit be organised to limit “interactions with women”, according to the AFP news agency.
The firm told AFP that “these conditions should not have been accepted”, adding they “were not in line with SETE’s values, nor with the principles of equality between men and women”.
Responding to the fallout from their visit in a statement on X, the BAPS temple in Paris said their trip was “arranged in conjunction with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours to avoid disrupting or inconveniencing others”.
It apologised “for any pain or inconvenience caused”, adding “we believe in the universal values of mutual respect and service”.
Paris’ Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire also waded into the controversy, stating there would be 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.
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