Eiffel Tower to get anti-terror screen 2½m high

A glass wall is to be built around the base of the Eiffel Tower under a plan to provide extra protection against terrorist attacks, said a source in the Paris mayor’s office on Thursday.

The 324m-high structure, one of the world’s most famous landmarks, which gets some seven million visitors a year, already has protective metal fencing around its base which was erected temporarily for the Euro football championship of 2016.

This move to protect the structure comes in the wake of several Islamist militant attacks in France, including bombings and shootings in Paris in November 2015 in which 130 people were killed.

Three objectives

Glass panels 2½ metres high would be built around the base of the tower as an anti-terrorist measure if the plans are approved, said the source. The project would go before a sites commission and then the environment ministry.

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“We have three aims: improve the look; make access easier; and strengthen the protection of visitors and staff,” said Jean-Francois Martins, a city official.

The cost of the project is estimated at €20 million, according to Le Parisien newspaper.