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EIFFEL TOWER

Eiffel Tower climber ‘grabbed’ after sparking evacuation

A climber who sparked an evacuation of the Eiffel Tower on Monday was 'grabbed' after clinging to the famous Paris landmark for more than six hours, officials said.

Eiffel Tower climber 'grabbed' after sparking evacuation
A man (C) climbs up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, without any protection as a firefighter (R) looks down at him. Photo: AFP
The man, who was not immediately identified, “is in the hands of the emergency teams” deployed to the tower, which will reopen to visitors as normal early on Tuesday, the company operating the structure said in a statement.
 
It said firemen who had rappelled down from the tower's third-floor observation deck to near the black-clad climber managed to “talk the individual down”.
   
The man “has been grabbed,” a police official added.
   
Emergency procedures triggered by the man's unauthorised climb forced an evacuation of the iconic monument, the esplanade underneath it and a large section of the adjacent Champ de Mars park mid-afternoon Monday.
 
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The abrupt closure of one of France's biggest tourist draws frustrated visitors who had been planning to go up the 324-metre (1,063-foot) tower.
   
“We're really disappointed, we're only here for a week and this messes with our whole programme,” said Sylvie and Celine Forcier from Quebec.
   
Justin and Karen Smith, from Los Angeles, had been hoping to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower after celebrating their wedding a day earlier in front of the monument. “We're disappointed,” he said.
   
Police earlier told AFP that, although they had made contact with the climber, they did not know his motive for climbing up its iron beams.
 
Target for freeclimbers
 
The tower is often the target of rogue freeclimbers hoping to scale one of the world's most famous structures, often for bragging rights.
   
But police have also been called in several times in recent years to try to thwart suicide attempts.
 
 
In October 2017, a young man ventured out on one of the beams and threatened to jump before police were able to convince him to come back.
   
In 2012, a British man managed to climb to the very top of the  tower before plunging to his death.
   
Nearly seven million people a year visit the tower, which last week celebrated its 130th anniversary.
 
The first two floors can be reached by either elevator or stairs, but only elevators whisk people to the top observation deck.
   
That did not stop a French urban freeclimber, Alain Robert, from making it one of his first targets in his campaign to scale the world's biggest buildings with no technical climbing gear.
   
He got to the top — not including the antenna — in the mid-1990s.

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TOURISM

Eiffel Tower reopens from its longest closure since World War II

The Eiffel Tower reopened to visitors on Friday for the first time in nine months following its longest closure since World War II.

Eiffel Tower reopens from its longest closure since World War II
The Eiffel Tower reopens on Friday. Photo: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP

The lifts of the Dame de fer (Iron Lady) are set to whir back into life, transporting tourists to its 300-metre summit, ending a long period of inactivity caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Daily capacity is restricted to 13,000 people, however, about half of the normal level, in order to respect social distancing.

And from Wednesday next week, visitors will need to show either proof of vaccination or a negative test, in line with recent government-imposed requirements on the pass sanitaire (health passport).

READ ALSO How France’s expanded health passport will work this summer

“Obviously it’s an additional operational complication, but it’s manageable,” the head of the operating company, Jean-François Martins, told AFP.

After a final round of safety checks by staff, he announced that the “lady is ready”.

Early reservations for tickets during the summer holiday period underline how the tourism industry in Paris has changed due to travel restrictions.

Martins said there was an “almost total absence” of British ticket holders, while only 15 percent were Americans and very few are from Asia.

READ ALSO Eiffel Tower: 13 things you didn’t know about Paris’ ‘iron lady’

Half of visitors are expected to be French, while Italians and Spanish make up a higher proportion than usual.

The long closure has caused havoc with the finances of the operating company, Sete, which runs the monument on behalf of Paris city authorities.

It is set to seek additional government aid and a fresh €60-million cash injection to stay afloat, having seen its revenues fall by 75 percent to €25 million in 2020.

The masterpiece by architect Gustave Eiffel has also been hit by problems linked to its latest paint job, the 20th time it has been repainted since its construction in 1889.

Work was halted in February because of high levels of lead detected on the site, which poses a health risk to workers.

Tests are still underway and painting is set to resume only in the autumn, meaning a part of the facade is obscured by scaffolding and safety nets.

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