00:00The Eiffel Tower is set to reopen on Tuesday after staff staged a walkout a day prior over
00:06the removal of female staffers to accommodate a visit by a Hindu religious group.
00:11The operating company that runs the Paris landmark, Seteh, acknowledged that the Hindu
00:16delegation had requested the visit be organized so as to limit interactions with women.
00:21Seteh later said that these conditions should not have been accepted, and announced that
00:26the global hotspot was due to reopen on Tuesday following a meeting between staff and management.
00:31Eiffel Tower staff said in a statement that it condemned professional instructions that
00:35led to female employees being sidelined and replaced during the visit by the delegation,
00:40and subsequently went on strike. They detailed that female employees were given instructions
00:46to make themselves invisible in order to welcome the delegation, adding that they were shocked by
00:51the incident. A slew of politicians and lawmakers, including Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire
00:57and President of the National Assembly Yal-Bron-Pivet, condemned the incident which they say undermined
01:03French values and citizens to please foreign visitors. BAPS, the Hindu religious group in
01:08question, apologized for any pain or inconvenience caused by the incident in a written statement
01:13shared on X. The group said it got in direct contact with Seteh as to avoid any disruptions
01:19to other tourists given the size of their delegation, stressing that to the best of their knowledge,
01:24no one was prevented access to the tower.
