Report: Women Staffers at Eiffel Tower Kept Hidden

Paris officials are scrambling for answers after women working at the Eiffel Tower say they were told to get out of sight for a visiting Hindu group. The tower shut down on Monday as staff went on strike over the Saturday incident and opened back up on Tuesday, with the head of the Eiffel Tower Operating Company calling the episode "totally unacceptable," per the Washington Post. The visit involved Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, which French media say requested limited "interactions with women." Some female employees reported being instructed to "make themselves invisible," per a staff statement cited by France 24.

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire says he's launching an investigation, reports the AP. BAPS has apologized, saying it didn't intend to block anyone's access and regrets any harm caused. Politicians across party lines condemned the situation, with Paris officials stressing that gender equality is nonnegotiable, per the Post. "Equality between women and men will never stop at the foot of our historical monuments, nor anywhere in this city," Gregoire wrote in an X post. "It must be applied everywhere, for everyone."