Staff at the Eiffel Tower staged a walkout on Monday, forcing the closure of the iconic Parisian landmark 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, which inaugurated a new temple in France over the weekend.
Diane Davoine, a union representative, told French TV that female workers had been "moved away from their workstations as the delegation passed by" during a visit on Saturday.
Eiffel Tower employees have condemned in a statement what they described as "professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex."
SETE, the company that runs the tower, has acknowledged that the Hindu delegation requested the trip be organised so as to limit "interactions with women," adding that "these conditions should not have been accepted."
