Paris's iconic Eiffel Tower was shut to tourists on Friday as staff walked off the job to protest a surge in gangs of pickpockets roaming around the monument. The closure of one of the busiest tourist attractions in the French capital ahead of a long holiday weekend recalls a similar strike at the Louvre museum in 2013 as staff protested against the often violent pickpockets stalking the halls of the palace.
Workers at the 126-year-old iron lattice tower - a glittering symbol of Paris - said in a statement they had chosen to down tools due to an "increase in pickpockets around the Eiffel Tower and several threats and assaults." The pickpockets "form a gang of 4/5 people. Sometimes there can be around 30" at the monument, one of the striking workers told AFP, adding that sometimes they "fight among themselves."
Another said he had been threatened while chasing away a pickpocket: "He said to me 'why don't you let us work... if this continues you will have problems'.'" The statement from the workers said they want "formal guarantees from management that lasting and effective measures will be taken to end this scourge to which numerous tourists fall victim every day."