PARIS: The mayor of Paris on Tuesday ordered investigations over the removal of women staff at the Eiffel Tower during a visit by a Hindu religious group which prompted an employee walkout and the one-day closure of the monument.
The Eiffel Tower, which says it receives nearly seven million people a year, reopened on Tuesday morning after a furore resulted in the landmark being shut down on Monday.
The Hindu group, which is close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling conservative Hindu nationalist party, apologised for any “inconvenience” caused.
The operating company that runs the Eiffel Tower, SETE, acknowledged that the Hindu delegation had requested the visit on Saturday be organised so as to limit “interactions with women” and said that “these conditions should not have been accepted”.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire announced two investigations into the incident, calling the decision to sideline female staff “absurd, unjust and unacceptable”.
