Employees protested instructions that required female workers to be hidden during a private visit by a Hindu religious organization.

On Monday, Eiffel Tower employees delayed the opening of the Paris landmark in protest of the treatment of female workers during a private visit by a Hindu religious organization on Saturday.

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“During the visit of a delegation of about 100 people, instructions were given to female workers at the Eiffel Tower and to female employees of subcontracted companies to make themselves invisible in order to receive the delegation,” the workers told Le Parisien.

Some female workers were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to secluded rooms, while others were replaced by men at their workplaces. All women were ordered not to enter or pass through certain areas while the delegation was present.

The controversial visit was organized by the ultraconservative religious organization Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a major socio-spiritual Hindu denomination rooted in the Vedic tradition.

Hallucinant.

Samedi, une délégation religieuse hindoue de la BAPS est venue visiter la Tour Eiffel et aurait demandé que les femmes du personnel soient tenues à l’écart pendant son passage.

Et la direction aurait obtempéré.

Nous sommes à Paris, à la Tour Eiffel, en 2026.… pic.twitter.com/xFYFHqbXUo

— Urban Vector (@UVector_) September 7, 2026

The text reads, “Mind-blowing. On Saturday, a Hindu religious delegation from BAPS came to visit the Eiffel Tower and reportedly demanded that female staff be kept away during their visit. And the management would have complied. We are in Paris, at the Eiffel Tower, in 2026. Today, the staff is on strike to denounce this marginalization of employees. Fortunately, there are still employees who remind us that in France a woman does not have to disappear from her workplace to satisfy the religious demands of visitors. And BFMTV? Their journalist, sent there to cover the closure and the strike, clearly discovers the real reason for the staff’s anger. Now that the information is published live (and collected by other media), it is difficult not to transmit it to X. BFMTV, therefore, does it… but with a title that is not very explicit to say the least, which does not at all highlight the marginalization of women at the origin of the controversy. As for the ‘operational reasons,’ these are the words used by the Eiffel Tower management to officially explain the disruption. The information is well published… but you almost have to go looking for it to understand what it really is.”

In response to the affront against female staff, Eiffel Tower workers held a general assembly on Monday that delayed the tower’s opening, which remained closed in the early afternoon. The employees believe the instructions were sexist and violate French laws.

“I personally informed BAPS representatives in France that such practices are contrary to the laws of the Republic,” said Valerie Pecresse, president of the Île-de-France region, where Paris is located.

Former Prime Minister Barnier called the measures “unacceptable” and said he had asked the Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) for explanations. So far, however, SETE has not commented on the incident involving BAPS.

“In France, customs originating elsewhere do not dictate to women how they should dress or behave in public spaces. Women are not hidden. They are not made to disappear. They are respected and their freedom is defended,” Barnier stressed.

“I understand the emotion of the Eiffel Tower staff: no reason of a religious nature can justify a gender-based distinction or any other discriminatory consideration in the reception of the public. The time for clarity has arrived,” Paris Center Mayor Ariel Weil stated on social networks.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: EFE – Le Parisien

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