The Eiffel Tower was closed on Monday, September 7, 2026, after staff announced a strike. The reason cited was the alleged attempt to sideline female employees during a private visit by the BAPS Hindu organization.
Workers and management stated that the closure resulted from a staff strike protesting the removal of female colleagues during the visit of the Hindu religious group. This visit coincided with a cultural water parade on the Seine organized by the spiritual movement Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS).
In an official statement, Eiffel Tower personnel condemned 'professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced, and rendered invisible because of their gender' during the delegation's visit.
The operating company managing the Parisian landmark, SETE, acknowledged that the Hindu delegation had requested the visit be organized in a way that limited 'interaction with women,' and stated that 'these conditions should not have been accepted.'
The socialist mayor of the French capital, Emmanuel Grégoire, stated on X that it is unacceptable for the Tower's management to have agreed to the delegation's terms. The Tower, which according to its website receives nearly seven million visitors annually, was closed all day Monday, but a staff representative reported that it will reopen on Tuesday under normal operating hours.
SETE President Ariel Weil, who is also a socialist elected official in Paris, told AFP: 'We are going to shed light on what happened and draw the necessary conclusions.'
BAPS, which is closely associated with the ruling conservative Hindu nationalist party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, consecrated its first major temple in France near Paris on Sunday.