In another concession to an era where terror attacks are often aimed at popular sites and large gatherings, Paris will build a bullet-proof glass wall around the Eiffel Tower.
Once built, the 2.5m (about 8-foot) wall will also control entry to the area under the tower, limiting access to ticket holders. The transparent wall will replace temporary metal barriers put up before last year’s Euro 2016 soccer tournament to deal both with issues both of terrorism and soccer hooliganism.
The possibility of attacks at tourist sites has worried local authorities, esepcially as a number of plots have been found and thwarted. The incidents that have taken place have caused a sharp dip in tourist travel to the city, from which it is only now beginning to recover.
The deputy mayor responsible for tourism, Jean-Francois Martins, announced the measures, saying “The terror threat remains high in Paris and the most vulnerable sites, led by the Eiffel Tower, must be the object of special security measures.”
The walls will go up along the two major streets fronting the tower, Quai Branly on the river side and Avenue Gustave-Eiffel on the other, and will intersect the two small parks on the other sides.
In addition to the security measures, the tower is also slated to get a high-tech enhancement of its nightly light show and improved elevators and other facilities to shorten lines and waits. For more on that, see this TravelGumbo report.
Well, yes, in that limited sense. My house walls work, too, for their purpose. Quite a bit different from the proposed ‘The Wall.’
Interesting to note that the French think a wall will work.