On Saturday 5 September some workers were apparently removed from their positions or asked not to be in the path of a Hindu religious delegation on a private visit to the symbolic monument of Paris. An episode that caused a revolt among the staff, leading to the protest that delayed the opening of the Eiffel Tower for hours on Monday 7 September. And which will now be the subject of an investigation announced by the City of Paris.
The visit of the Hindu delegation
It all begins on Saturday, when around one hundred members of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, one of the most important international Hindu religious organisations, take part in a private visit of the Eiffel Tower.
Also present in Paris in those days was Mahant Swami Maharaj, spiritual leader of Baps, who arrived in France to preside over a series of celebrations linked to the inauguration of the new Hindu temple of Bussy-Saint-Georges, on the outskirts of the capital, the first large traditional Hindu mandir in France.
According to the workers, the Eiffel Tower was asked to organize the delegation’s route in order to avoid or reduce contact with women. The consequences would have been very real. Some employees would have had to temporarily leave their positions, others would have been replaced by male colleagues and still others would have been asked not to be in certain areas when the delegation passed. The staff denounced what they considered a real sidelining of the workers.
The workers’ revolt and the closed Eiffel Tower
On Monday, employees gathered to protest and ask for guarantees so that a similar situation cannot happen again. The mobilization caused a delay in the opening of the Eiffel Tower, which remained closed to the public in the early hours of the afternoon. The management apologized to the workers.
The case quickly turned political. Emmanuel Grégoire, mayor of Paris, announced an urgent investigation and expressed support for the workers. The president of the French National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet also spoke, recalling one of the fundamental principles of the French Republic: women cannot be made invisible or treated differently from men due to religious prescriptions.