Eiffel Tower shuts after female staff allegedly sidelined during Hindu group's visit

New Delhi ( Abhishek Singh) : The Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors on Monday after staff staged a walkout over allegations that female employees were moved away from their workstations during a visit by a Hindu religious group linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), as reported by Euronews.

The iconic Paris landmark's operator, SETE, said the closure was due to "exceptional circumstances".The protest followed a visit by around 100 people linked to the 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 the group's visit on Saturday.

Eiffel Tower employees condemned what they described as "professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex."SETE acknowledged that the Hindu delegation had requested that the visit be organised to limit "interactions with women", but said "these conditions should not have been accepted."

In a statement on Monday evening, the BAPS Hindu temple in Paris said it took the concerns "very seriously" and apologised for "any pain or inconvenience caused."

Due to the size of our delegation, the visit was arranged in conjunction with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours to avoid disrupting or inconveniencing others," it said."To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower," it continued, adding that it believed in the "universal values of mutual respect and service."

Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said on X that he was "aware of the outcry among the employees of the Eiffel Tower" and called it "unacceptable" that such conditions were agreed to."These are not my values, nor are they the values that the Eiffel Tower should uphold, where everyone must be able to move about and act freely, without distinction between women and men," he wrote, adding that an investigation into the incident would be launched.