Eiffel Tower closed due to strike after female staff allegedly removed for religious group
Eiffel Tower Closed Due to Strike Over Religious Visit
Earthguardiansonline.com – Paris’s most visited monument went dark on Monday, September 8, 2026, when the Eiffel Tower closed due to strike after tower employees walked off the job in protest over an alleged directive to remove women from their posts during a delegation visit by a Hindu spiritual group. The shutdown, which lasted through the day, drew immediate condemnation from French political leaders and sparked a heated debate across the Indian subcontinent about gender norms and religious accommodation.
What Triggered the Walkout
On Saturday, roughly 100 members of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a volunteer-driven fellowship headquartered in Ahmedabad, India, toured the iron lattice structure. The group’s broader Paris itinerary included the inauguration of a newly built Hindu temple on Sunday. According to Diane Davoine, a union representative for tower staff, the Saturday visit carried an unusual stipulation: female employees were instructed to vacate their stations so that male colleagues could take their places.
“Women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there,” Davoine told reporters. “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.”
The episode, Davoine said, left the workforce shaken and embarrassed. Within hours, the grievance had escalated into a full work stoppage, and the Eiffel Tower closed due to strike for the remainder of the day.
Political and Institutional Fallout
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire announced a formal investigation into the allegations, posting on X that tolerating such conditions violated basic civic norms. He stated: “It is not acceptable that such conditions can be tolerated. These are neither my values, nor those that the Eiffel Tower should uphold, where everyone should be able to move about and act freely, without distinction between women and men.”
National attention followed quickly. Aurore Bergé, France’s Minister for Gender Equality and the Fight Against Discrimination, called the alleged incident “unacceptable” and invoked the country’s constitutional commitment to secularism and gender parity: “In France, gender equality is neither negotiable nor subject to varying standards. It is a principle, and there are no exceptions to it.” Her remarks echoed a century of French feminist organizing, culminating in the 2024 constitutional amendment that made France the first nation to enshrine the right to abortion in its founding charter.
The Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE) confirmed through French broadcaster BFMTV that the BAPS delegation had requested a visit format restricting “interactions with women.” A SETE spokesperson acknowledged that “these conditions should not have been accepted,” effectively conceding that management acquiesced to what employees and politicians now characterize as discriminatory.
BAPS Response and Reactions in India
In a statement posted to X, BAPS did not address the female-staff issue by name but said it regarded the concerns “very seriously.” The organization explained that the visit had been arranged “in coordination with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours” to minimize disruption, and added: “To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower. Nevertheless, we sincerely apologise for any pain or inconvenience caused.”
By Tuesday, the closure had become a front-page story in Indian media. Social-media commentators split along familiar lines: some questioned why the monument’s management would comply with what appeared to be a request to sideline women, while others argued the episode tarnished both India’s international standing and the public image of Hinduism. The debate touched a nerve in a country whose own constitutional framework enshrines secularism and whose feminist traditions stretch back decades. Thousands of BAPS devotees also participated in processions and public events across Paris over several days, amplifying the visibility of the organization during the controversy.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Eiffel Tower close due to strike? The walkout began on Monday, September 8, 2026, following the Saturday BAPS delegation visit. The tower was closed to visitors for the day.
Who organized the walkout? Tower employees, represented by union figure Diane Davoine, staged the walkout in protest over the alleged directive to remove women from their stations during the religious group’s visit.
What did the Eiffel Tower Operating Company say? SETE confirmed the delegation had requested restricted “interactions with women” and acknowledged through BFMTV that those conditions “should not have been accepted.”
What is BAPS? The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha is a Hindu spiritual organization headquartered in Ahmedabad, India, that describes itself as a volunteer-driven fellowship promoting personal development and social improvement.
Has an investigation been opened? Yes. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire announced a formal investigation into the allegations shortly after the closure began.
