Eiffel Tower to reopen after staff strike

The Eiffel Tower will reopen on Tuesday, a day after employees went on strike over what they described as a “shocking” decision to withdraw female staff during a visit by a Hindu religious group to the famous Paris landmark on Saturday, AFP reported.

The Hindu spiritual movement Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), which has been criticized by some members of the Indian diaspora who consider it particularly conservative and nationalist, inaugurated its first major temple in France on Sunday in Bussy-Saint-Georges, near Paris, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

A delegation from the group held a cultural procession on the Seine on Saturday and also visited the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower staff denounced what they described in a statement as “professional instructions that led to the exclusion, replacement and sidelining of female employees because of their gender” during the visit.

The Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE) acknowledged that the Hindu delegation had requested that the visit be organized in a way that limited “interactions with women” and admitted that “these conditions should not have been accepted.”

“It is unacceptable that such conditions,” requested by the Hindu delegation, “could have been tolerated,” Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said on X, adding that an investigation would be launched “as soon as possible.”

A meeting between staff members and Eiffel Tower management was held on Monday, while the monument remained closed throughout the day. It is expected to reopen under normal conditions on Tuesday morning, according to a SETE staff representative.

“We will shed light on what happened and draw the necessary conclusions,” SETE President Ariel Weil, a Paris socialist politician, told AFP.

“We would like to offer our sincere apologies to anyone who may have been affected or disturbed by this situation,” BAPS said on X.

“We understand the concerns that have been raised and take them very seriously,” the organization added, noting that the visit took place “at the beginning of normal visiting hours in order to minimize any inconvenience to other visitors.”

BAPS and its objectives have faced criticism from some members of the Indian diaspora, including the Indian Alliance Paris association, which described the inauguration of the group’s temple in France as a new push for “Hindu supremacy” and a “conservative and Hindu nationalist worldview.”

Photo: Chat GPT