PARIS, Sept. 8 — France’s landmark Eiffel Tower was forced to close on Monday after site employees went on strike to protest the exclusion and forced movement of female staff members during a private visit by a Hindu religious group over the weekend.
The operational shutdown occurred after a 100-member delegation associated with the Hindu organization Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) visited the monument on Saturday. Operating company SETE agreed to requests from the delegation to limit interactions with female staff. According to the CGT trade union, female employees were instructed to leave their assigned posts, retreat from designated view corridors, or be replaced by male colleagues.
“Professional instructions led to female employees being sidelined, replaced, and rendered invisible on the basis of their gender,” the CGT union said in a statement condemning the decision.
The incident ignited a political debate in France over gender equality and secular principles (laïcité). Equality Minister Aurore Bergé rejected the accommodation on social media, writing: “In France, we do not ask women to erase themselves. No dogma, no religion is above the laws of the Republic.” National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet added that “welcoming others never means giving up our values.”
Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire characterized the concession as “unacceptable” and confirmed that municipal authorities would launch a formal review. Opposition political figures also denounced the incident, asserting that public monuments must adhere strictly to national equality standards.
SETE management acknowledged that agreeing to the group’s conditions was a mistake that violated corporate policy and secular values. Ariel Weil, president of SETE, stated that no religious rationale could justify gender-based distinctions in public site operations. BAPS issued an apology for the inconvenience while maintaining that it did not intentionally seek to prevent public access.
The monument, which receives approximately seven million visitors annually, resumed normal operations on Tuesday morning after staff representatives met with management to establish safeguards against future incidents.