Eiffel Tower Closes as Staff Strike Over Allegations Female Workers Were Sidelined for Religious Delegation

The Eiffel Tower was forced to close its gates to visitors on Monday after site employees launched a strike to protest allegations that female personnel were instructed to vacate their work stations and remain out of view during a weekend visit by a Hindu religious group. The industrial action brought one of the world's most famous landmarks to a standstill and triggered sharp condemnation from prominent French officials.

The controversy originated on Saturday when a delegation of approximately 100 members belonging to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, commonly known as BAPS, toured the monument. The global Hindu organization, which maintains its international headquarters in Ahmedabad, India, was in the French capital to mark the official opening of a newly constructed temple in the city the following day.

BAPS characterizes its mission as a volunteer-led spiritual movement dedicated to social advancement through personal development, emphasizing traditional values of faith, selfless service, and global harmony. However, the operational arrangements made to accommodate the organization's delegation quickly sparked significant internal backlash among the monument's workforce.

Union representative Diane Davoine told reporters that monument employees were appalled after female workers were purportedly instructed to leave their assigned posts so that male staff members could replace them. Davoine explained that the directive directly undermined the workplace rights of women on duty during the Saturday tour.

Davoine noted that the decision caused profound distress among the staff, emphasizing that female colleagues felt deeply humiliated by the treatment they received. The resulting anger quickly galvanized personnel across the site, leading to the collective decision to walk off the job on Monday in protest of the operational handling of the visit.

The escalating dispute prompted an immediate reaction from Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire, who announced that an official investigation had been launched to establish the facts surrounding the incident. Writing on the social media platform X, the mayor emphasized that such exclusionary workplace practices could not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Grégoire asserted that the alleged actions conflicted fundamentally with both his personal values and the principles that should guide operations at the Eiffel Tower. He reiterated that the landmark must remain an environment where all individuals are permitted to work and move freely without experiencing any form of discrimination based on gender.

The Eiffel Tower Operating Company, known as SETE, acknowledged that members of the BAPS delegation had requested a tour arranged in a manner that would limit interactions with female personnel. In statements reported by the French broadcaster BFMTV, the operating authority conceded that management should never have agreed to accept such restrictive conditions.

In response to the growing public scrutiny, BAPS issued a statement on X indicating that it treated the concerns with great seriousness, while noting that the weekend tour had been arranged alongside the Eiffel Tower management team at the start of normal visiting hours to minimize inconvenience to other tourists. The organization stated that, to its knowledge, no person had been barred from entering the monument, but offered a sincere apology for any distress or disruption the situation may have generated.

In a separate statement provided to CNN, BAPS Paris firmly rejected claims that its visit was organized with discriminatory intent, stating that the group had never made a request rooted in gender distinctions. The local chapter emphasized that any portrayal suggesting otherwise misrepresents the core values of the fellowship, affirming its steadfast commitment to equality, mutual respect, and universal service.

The monument's closure and the allegations behind it also generated widespread attention across Indian media outlets. Social media users and commentators in India vigorously debated the incident, with some questioning why the Eiffel Tower's management would agree to sideline female employees, while others voiced concern that the controversy damaged the reputation of the Hindu faith and the country abroad.

The dispute carries particular resonance in France, a nation defined by a long tradition of feminist advocacy and a rigid constitutional adherence to secularism with roots dating back to the French Revolution. Over the course of the past century, French civil movements have secured pivotal milestones in women's rights, and in 2024, France became the first country in the world to enshrine the right to abortion directly into its constitution.

France's Minister for Gender Equality and the Fight Against Discrimination, Aurore Bergé, denounced the reported sidelining of female personnel as completely unacceptable. Taking to social media, Bergé asserted that gender equality remains an absolute baseline in France that is neither open to negotiation nor subject to exceptions or shifting standards.

The contentious visit occurred during a broader series of large-scale events held across France by BAPS, which drew thousands of devotees from around the world. These gatherings included a major boat procession along the River Seine involving more than 5,500 participants, as well as a street procession in the eastern Paris suburb of Bussy-Saint-Georges that was led by women and girls.

BAPS is widely known for constructing monumental and architecturally intricate stone temples across the globe. Among its prominent international sites are the BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham in Robbinsville, New Jersey, recognized as the largest Hindu temple in the United States, as well as the largest Hindu temple in the United Arab Emirates.