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Strike at the Eiffel Tower Closes One of the World’s Most Popular Monuments to Visitors

A general view of the Eiffel Tower that remains closed to visitors during a strike of the staff in Paris, France, 19 February 2024. (EPA)
A general view of the Eiffel Tower that remains closed to visitors during a strike of the staff in Paris, France, 19 February 2024. (EPA)
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Strike at the Eiffel Tower Closes One of the World’s Most Popular Monuments to Visitors

A general view of the Eiffel Tower that remains closed to visitors during a strike of the staff in Paris, France, 19 February 2024. (EPA)
A general view of the Eiffel Tower that remains closed to visitors during a strike of the staff in Paris, France, 19 February 2024. (EPA)

Visitors to the Eiffel Tower were turned away on Monday because of a strike over poor financial management at one of the world’s most-visited sites.

A sign was posted at the entrance in English, saying: “Due to a strike, the Eiffel Tower is closed. We apologize.”

The hugely popular 330-meter (1083-foot) landmark in central Paris has seen soaring visitor numbers in the lead-up to the Summer Olympics in the French capital.

Tourists planning to visit the Eiffel Tower on Monday were warned of disruptions in multiple languages on its website. Visitors were advised to check the website before heading to the monument or to postpone their trip. Electronic ticket owners were told to check their inboxes beforehand.

The landmark's operator also said on its website that visits to the Eiffel Tower will be disrupted on Tuesday.

“We’re a little disappointed but we understand that people deserve a fair wage and they deserve proper working conditions,” said Marisa Solis, an American tourist, visiting Paris from New York City.

The Eiffel Tower is typically open 365 days a year. Monday’s closure is the second in two months due to strikes. In December, it was closed to visitors for an entire day during Christmas and New Year’s holidays because of a strike over contract negotiations.

Morgan McKenny, an American living in Germany, has come to Paris to celebrate her birthday and decided to enter the landmark Monday after surveying it from all sides over the weekend.

“Knowing that I can’t come to the tower today is very, very disappointing,” McKenny said. She added: “I appreciate the workers wanting to keep the tower going for the next few hundred years.”

Stephane Dieu of the CGT union, which represents a large number of the Eiffel Tower’s employees, said Monday's strike is aimed at a salary increase in proportion to the incoming revenue from ticket sales and improved maintenance of the monument, which is owned by the Paris municipality.

Union leaders have criticized the Eiffel Tower operator's business model, saying it's based on an inflated estimate of future visitor numbers, maintenance cost expenses and employees' work compensation.

“They are giving priority to short-term benefits over long-term conservation of the monument and the well-being of the company we are working for,” Dieu said in an interview with The Associated Press at the Eiffel Tower picket line on Monday.

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Trinidad and Tobago Reckons with Colonialism in a Debate on Statues, Signs and Monuments of Its Past 

A vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus towers over Columbus Square in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. Officials in the Caribbean island nation are reviewing on whether to remove statues, signs and monuments that reference European colonization. (AP)
A vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus towers over Columbus Square in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. Officials in the Caribbean island nation are reviewing on whether to remove statues, signs and monuments that reference European colonization. (AP)
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Trinidad and Tobago Reckons with Colonialism in a Debate on Statues, Signs and Monuments of Its Past 

A vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus towers over Columbus Square in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. Officials in the Caribbean island nation are reviewing on whether to remove statues, signs and monuments that reference European colonization. (AP)
A vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus towers over Columbus Square in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. Officials in the Caribbean island nation are reviewing on whether to remove statues, signs and monuments that reference European colonization. (AP)

In a small auditorium in the seaside capital of Trinidad and Tobago, Christopher Columbus and other colonial-era figures came under scrutiny late Wednesday in a lengthy debate punctuated by snickers, applause and outbursts.

The government had asked residents of the diverse, twin-island nation in the eastern Caribbean if they supported the removal of statues, signs and monuments with colonial ties and how those spaces should be used instead. One by one, people of African, European and Indigenous descent stepped up to the microphone and responded.

Some suggested a prominent Columbus statue be placed in a museum. Others requested it be destroyed and that people be allowed to stomp on the dusty remains. One man encouraged officials to round up statues of colonial figures and create a “square of the infamous.”

The majority of the more than two dozen people who spoke, and dozens of others commenting online, supported removal of colonial-era symbols and names.

“It’s an issue about how after 62 years of independence ... we continue to live in a space that reflects the ideals and the vision and the views of those who were our colonial masters,” said Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada, executive chair of the islands’ Emancipation Support Committee.

Trinidad and Tobago is the latest nation to embrace a global movement that began in recent years to abolish colonial-era symbols as it reckons with its past and questions if and how it should memorialize it as demands for slavery reparations grow across the Caribbean.

The public hearing was held just a week after the government announced it would redraw the nation’s coat of arms to remove Christopher Columbus’ three famous ships — the Pinta, the Niña and the Santa María – and replace it with the steelpan, a popular percussion instrument that originated in the Caribbean nation.

Others pushed for further changes on Wednesday night.

“What the hell is the queen still doing on top of the coat of arms? Please let us put her to rest,” said Eric Lewis, who identifies as a member of the First Peoples, also known as Amerindians.

Trinidad and Tobago was first colonized by the Spanish, who ruled it for nearly 300 years before ceding it to the British, who governed it for more than 160 years until the islands’ independence in 1962. The colonial imprint remains throughout streets and plazas, with a statue of Christopher Columbus dominating a square of the same name in the capital of Port of Spain.

The islands’ National Trust calls it “one of the greatest embellishments of our town,” but many differ.

“It’s disrespectful to those who were the victims of him. The people suffered tremendously,” said Shania James as she called for the statue to be placed in a museum. “His atrocities should not be forgotten.”

But a handful of people dismissed concerns about how their ancestors were treated, including tour guide Teresa Hope, who is Black.

“They survived, and I survived, and we will keep on moving,” she said, adding that if the actions of historical figures were scrutinized, “everything would get knocked down.”

Rubadiri Victor, president of the Artists’ Coalition, said his country should instead erect statues and monuments to honor some of the more than 200 Trinbagonians who represent the best of the islands.

“We are stumbling and tripping over heroes,” he said. “To have produced so much genius, and that lineage is nowhere present in the landscape.”

Among the suggestions of people to honor was Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul; Cyril Lionel Robert James, a historian and journalist; and Kwame Ture, who helped spearhead the Black Power movement in the US Others suggested that prominent Amerindians and more local women be honored, including Patricia Bishop, an educator and musician and Beryl McBurnie, a teacher credited with promoting and saving Caribbean dance.

The debate was scheduled to continue soon in the sister island of Tobago, with the government having received nearly 200 submissions overall so far on what it should do.