Security Alert Prompts Eiffel Tower Evacuation

[Gefn]

A security alert Saturday prompted the evacuation of three floors of the Eiffel Tower in central Paris, France's most emblematic symbol which drew 6.2 million visitors last year.

SETE, the body which runs the site, said bomb disposal experts as well as police were scouring the area, including a restaurant located on one of the floors.

"It's a usual procedure in this kind of situation which however is rare," a spokeswoman said.

Visitors were evacuated from both the three floors and the square under the monument shortly after 1:30 pm (1130 GMT).




https://www.barrons.com/news/security-alert-prompts-eiffel-tower-evacuation-e5c447c4

[mountaineer]

My cousin and I were in Paris in 1983 during one of the periodic student riots (my father had been there in 1968 during those riots). I remember watching a protest from the first level of the Eiffel Tower. They were burning someone in effigy, and smoke was everywhere. As a symbol of the city, it's not surprising the bad guys and loonies would make threats to it.

Coincidentally, I'm about 80% through David McCullough's "The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris," about Yankees who flocked to Paris in the 19th century to study painting, sculpture, medicine, and the other arts. I'm at the part where the tower has just been constructed.