Eiffel Tower closed in row over women removed for Hindu group

The Eiffel Tower was closed on Monday because of a strike by staff over the removal of female colleagues during a visit by a Hindu religious group, workers and management said. The visit came on the same day as a cultural boat procession on the Seine organized by the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) spiritual movement. In a statement, Eiffel Tower staff condemned “professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex” during the visit by the delegation.