Police arrest a man climbing the Eiffel Tower, prompting an evacuation hours before closing ceremony
![A man climbs the Eiffel Tower](https://toronto.citynews.ca/wp-content/blogs.dir/sites/10/2024/08/11/eiffel-tower-climb-1024x576.jpg)
Posted August 11, 2024 8:42 am.
Last Updated August 11, 2024 1:01 pm.
French police evacuated the area around the Eiffel Tower after a man was seen climbing the Paris landmark hours before the Olympics closing ceremony Sunday.
The shirtless man was seen scaling the 330-meter (1,083-foot) tall tower in the afternoon. It’s unclear where he began his ascent, but he was spotted just above the Olympic rings adorning the second section of the monument, just above the first viewing deck.
Police escorted visitors away from the area around 3 p.m. Some visitors who were briefly locked on the second floor were allowed to exit around 30 minutes later.
“An individual started climbing the Eiffel Tower at 2:45 p.m., police intervened and the person was detained,” a Paris police official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation into the incident.
The Eiffel Tower was a centerpiece of the opening ceremony, with Celine Dion serenading the city from one of its viewing areas. The Tower is not expected to be part of the closing ceremony, which was set to begin at Stade de France in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis at 9 p.m.
The incident occurred as the Olympic competition winds down and security services in Paris and beyond are shifting their focus to the closing ceremony that will bring the curtain down on the Games.
More than 30,000 police officers have been deployed around Paris on Sunday.
France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said there is “no (terrorist) threat that would specifically target the closing ceremony.” About 3,000 police troops will be deployed well into Sunday night around the Stade de France, in addition to at least 20,000 police and other security personnel that have already been mobilized in Paris and the Saint-Denis area.
They will ensure the safety of heads of states attending the closing ceremony, fans using public transport to reach the stadium and their accommodations late at night, as well as the athletes’ last night at the Olympic Village, Darmanin said.
The show will stretch late into the evening, and high-level security “will allow us to celebrate our athletes and the very successful Olympic Games, in terms of sport and organization and in terms of security,” Darmanin said.
Just hours before the July 26 opening ceremony, French transport was thrust into chaos after a series of coordinated “malicious acts” upended high-speed train lines. Officials said the arson attacks and other vandalism on the rail system were a form of sabotage on a pivotal day of the Games. No arrests have been made in connection to the attacks amid an ongoing investigation.