Eiffel Tower Closes All Day as Staff Strike Over Exclusion of Female Colleagues During Hindu Delegation Visit

The Eiffel Tower remained closed all day Monday after monument staff went on strike, protesting instructions that sidelined female employees during a protocol visit by around 100 members of the Hindu spiritual organization BAPS (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha) the previous Saturday, held around the inauguration of the group's first French temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges. Female workers employed by tower operator SETE and its service providers said they were removed from their posts and relegated to side rooms while male colleagues took their places. SETE management and staff representatives met Monday to resolve the dispute; both the operator and BAPS apologized, and the tower reopened Tuesday.