The Eiffel Tower was closed on Monday after staff went on strike over the removal of female workers during a visit by a Hindu religious group, according to workers and management.
A delegation of about 100 people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) visited the landmark in the French capital on Saturday.
Staff union representative Diane Davoine said women were asked to move when the delegation arrived.
“During the visit of this delegation, women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there,” she told Reuters.
Davoine said management had since apologised to workers over the incident.
“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,” she said.
Workers demand dialogue and safeguards
Davoine said tensions had increased over the weekend, prompting employees to meet on Monday.
She said the workers wanted to open a dialogue with management and ensure that women would never again be treated in such a manner at the company.
Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), the company operating the Paris monument, confirmed that the delegation had asked for the visit to be organised to limit “interactions with women”, according to AFP.
The company told AFP that such conditions should not have been accepted, saying they were not in line with SETE’s values or the principles of equality between men and women.
SETE president Ariel Weil said the arrangement was clearly unacceptable.
“I restate the Eiffel Tower’s commitment to republican values and to the equality of men and women,” he said.
The BBC has contacted the Union Confédération générale du travail (CGT) for a response.
BAPS apologises as French officials call for investigation
The BAPS group consecrated its first major temple in France on Sunday in the suburbs of Paris.
In a statement on X, the BAPS temple in Paris said the trip had been “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 that it believed in “the universal values of mutual respect and service”.
On its website, BAPS describes itself as a “spiritual, volunteer-driven fellowship dedicated to improving society” through Hindu values.
The group has temples in major cities around the world, including London, Los Angeles and Sydney.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said an investigation would be conducted into the circumstances surrounding 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.
“Equality between women and men will never stop at the foot of our historical monuments, nor anywhere in this city. It must be applied everywhere, for everyone.”
French hard-right leader Marine Le Pen said: “In France, we will never accept that the presence of women be ‘limited’.”
Former centre-right French prime minister Gabriel Attal, who has said he will run for the presidency next year, said: “In France, no culture, no belief, no worship, nothing nor anyone can come to dictate to women their place.”
Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of France’s National Assembly, said: “I refuse to allow women to be compelled to step aside in order to meet the demands of foreign visitors.”
