Eiffel Tower to be shielded by 2.5-metre glass security walls

PARIS: The Eiffel Tower, the symbol of Paris, will soon be surrounded by a bullet-proof glass wall 2.5 metres (eight feet) high, part of a plan to prevent attacks at the iconic monument, the city said on Thursday.

The 20-million-euro ($21.4 million) wall to be erected this autumn will replace the metal fences thrown up around the 324-metre (1,063-foot) tower during the Euro football tournament in France last year.

“The terror threat remains high in Paris, and the most vulnerable sites, starting with the Eiffel Tower, must be the object of special security measures,” deputy mayor Jean-Francois Martins told a press conference.

The glass casing will prevent individuals or vehicles storming the site visited by six million people each year, he added.

Some councillors quoted by Le Parisien newspaper said they feared the wall would turn the tower into a “fortress”.

It could turn off tourists who simply want to have their pictures snapped under the tower without visiting the venerable Iron Lady.

Martins said that visitors will continue to have access to the foot of the tower — after undergoing security checks.

Removing the unsightly barriers currently in place would give both visitors and locals alike “a nicer view of the monument”, he said.

Architects will help design the wall so that it blends in with the Seine river, which borders the tower to the north, and with the Champ de Mars park to the south, he added.

Olympics bid

Security has been boosted around French tourist sites, transport hubs and places of worship after a string of attacks that claimed 238 lives around the country between January 2015 and July 2016.

The continuing nature of the threat was brought home last week by an attack on troops patrolling outside the Louvre museum. The suspect was shot in the stomach after slightly injuring a soldier with a machete.

The assault came on the day France launched its formal bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, lighting up the Eiffel Tower in the blue, white and red national colours.

The tower, which was inaugurated for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, will undergo a major upgrade as part of the bid.