Paris to Build Bulletproof Wall around Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is about to get a security facelift. Paris is planning to spend 20 million euros (about $22 million) to build a protective barrier around the Eiffel Tower to replace temporary structures that were put up after series of terror attacks.
“Sadly, the risk of terrorism hasn’t gone away,” deputy mayor Jean-François Martins said at a Paris press conference. “It’s not a wall, it’s an aesthetic perimeter.”
Rumors circulating through the Parisian press say that the wall will be a clear structure made of bulletproof glass. The form the new structure takes will depend on solutions proposed in response to the city’s call for tenders, he said.
The new perimeter will include the space under the tower, as well as two ponds on either side of it, an area roughly 200-300 meters.
“It must be able to stop bullet and vehicles,” Martins said. Tourists will be free to enter the area after a security check, with payment required only to go up into the tower itself.
Temporary and movable structures were sporadically put in place after a series of attacks in 2015, and have continuously been in place since France hosted the Euro 2016 soccer championships last summer.