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Eiffel Tower Operator Says Strike by Staff Has Ended, Site to Reopen on Sunday

This photograph taken on February 23, 2024, shows the Eiffel Tower on a cloudy day in Paris. (AFP)
This photograph taken on February 23, 2024, shows the Eiffel Tower on a cloudy day in Paris. (AFP)
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Eiffel Tower Operator Says Strike by Staff Has Ended, Site to Reopen on Sunday

This photograph taken on February 23, 2024, shows the Eiffel Tower on a cloudy day in Paris. (AFP)
This photograph taken on February 23, 2024, shows the Eiffel Tower on a cloudy day in Paris. (AFP)

A strike by staff at the Eiffel Tower has ended, the company that runs one of the most visited tourist sites in the world said in a statement on Saturday.

The tower will reopen on Sunday, the Societe d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), which is owned by Paris City Hall, added.

Workers at the Eiffel Tower went on strike on Feb. 19 in protest over the way the Paris monument is managed.

It came as Paris prepares to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, which begin on July 26 and will feature metal from the tower in the winners' medals.

SETE and trade unions "reached an end-of-strike agreement stipulating that the parties will regularly review the company's business model, maintenance costs and sales through a body that will meet every six months", the company said.

SETE said visitors who bought tickets between Feb. 19-24 will get refunds.

Unions claim Paris City Hall, which owns 99% of SETE, is underestimating the cost of planned maintenance and repairs to the monument ahead of the Olympics.

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UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
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UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File

The Saint Hilarion complex, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, has been put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in danger due to the war in Gaza, the body said Friday.
UNESCO said the site, which dates back to the fourth century, had been put on the endangered list at the demand of Palestinian authorities and cited the "imminent threats" it faced.
"It's the only recourse to protect the site from destruction in the current context," Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, told AFP, referring to the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.
In December, the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict decided to grant "provisional enhanced protection" -- the highest level of immunity established by the 1954 Hague Convention -- to the site.
UNESCO had then said it was "already concerned about the state of conservation of sites, before October 7, due to the lack of adequate policies to protect heritage and culture" in Gaza.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 39,175 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.