The Eiffel Tower has reopened after a one-day strike was called in response to the landmark\u2019s management ordering female staff to keep out of sight at the request of a visiting religious group.<\/p>\n
City Hall, which operates the Paris landmark, has apologised for breaching France\u2019s republican principle of equality and ordered a full inquiry.<\/p>\n
Workers at the tower walked out on Monday, closing the landmark to visitors, after female colleagues were sidelined and replaced during a visit organised by a Hindu religious group at the weekend.<\/p>\n
In a statement, staff said they objected to \u201cprofessional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex\u201d during the visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome were asked to leave their posts and wait in separate rooms. In some posts, women were replaced by men. All female employees were instructed not to pass through or enter certain areas while the [Hindu] delegation was present,\u201d they said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Employees said they were shocked to find themselves in a situation that was \u201cdeeply contrary to the values of equality and nondiscrimination\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Eiffel Tower is the symbol of France. We believe it must also be exemplary in the values it promotes and the way it treats staff,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) spiritual movement, whose members made the request in advance of a visit on Saturday, apologised.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo our knowledge, nobody was refused access to the Eiffel Tower at any moment. Nevertheless, We offer our sincere apologies to anyone who may have been hurt or offended by this situation,\u201d it wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n
BAPS is close to India\u2019s ruling Hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata, and was in France to consecrate its first major temple in the country on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The public-owned Eiffel Tower operating company (SETE) acknowledged that BAPS had requested that \u201cinteractions with women\u201d be limited, and said it should not have accepted these conditions. \u201cThey are not in keeping with SETE\u2019s values or the principles of equality between women and men and the neutrality that must guide the organisation of visits to the monument,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n