AP —
The head of the company that runs the Eiffel Tower is set to resign at the end of the year after female staff at the Paris landmark building were removed during a visit by a Hindu religious group.
Patrick Blanco Ruivo, executive director of the Eiffel Tower Development Association, is stepping down from his post after an investigation conducted by an independent firm revealed a series of operational failures related to the September 5 visit.
The company said in a statement Tuesday that the failure resulted in “female staff being excluded from visits that day, an unacceptable situation.” Mr. Ruivo was appointed at the end of 2018.
The Eiffel Tower, visited by seven million people a year, was closed on September 7 due to a staff strike to protest what trade union leaders described as “unacceptable” management directives.
Anger grew among employees at the 330-metre (1,083-foot) iconic landmark after management instructed employees that female employees should not have contact with the Bochasanvasi Sri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha delegation.
The group, known as BAPS, is a global religious and civil society organization within the Swaminarayan sect, a Hindu sect. Celebrations were being held to mark the inauguration of a traditional Hindu stone temple in the Paris region.
BAPS said in a statement to The Associated Press that the organization “has never requested that female employees be hidden, removed or excluded from visits.”
“The religious practices of our monks were explained to the management of the Eiffel Tower in advance. These are personal spiritual commitments, which our monks adhere to without trying to impose themselves on others. We do not seek to exclude women from the places we visit,” the statement said. The group did not elaborate on what the monks’ training entails.
The management company’s chairman, Ariel Weil, said on Tuesday that it had called for measures and training programs to promote gender equality.
This is not the first time the 137-year-old tower has been closed due to industrial action. It was closed for six days in February 2024 after workers went on strike demanding better maintenance of the historic building and higher wages.
