Goodbye metal fencing, hello glass walls: Paris authorities are building a permanent security belt around the Eiffel Tower, replacing the current fencing around it with more visually appealing glass walls.
Bernard Gaudillere, president of the SETE, Eiffel Tower Exploitation Society poses in front of a new security bulletproof glass barrier under construction around the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, Thursday, June 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
The company operating France's most-visited monument says see-through panels are being set up at the north and south ends of the site. Each panel, made from over 6-centimeter (2.36-inch) thick armored glass, measures 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) high and weighs 1.5 tons.
In all, 450 glass panels will compose the two walls north and south of the monument.
Two graphic grids have been erected on the two other sides of the site and bollards against vehicle ramming attacks will be set up all around.
View of a new security bulletproof glass barrier under construction around the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, Thursday, June 14, 2018. Paris authorities have started replacing the metal security fencing around the Eiffel Tower with a more visually appealing glass wall. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
French soldiers and police will keep patrolling outside and inside the area, as they have done since the deadly November 2015 attacks in the French capital.
The glass walls being installed allow visitors to admire the views from the nearby Champ-de-Mars gardens to the other side of the Seine River that cuts through Paris.
The renovation, which will also embellish the gardens beneath the tower, is part of a 300 million euro ($350 million) project announced last year to modernize the 129-year-old tower that has become the most recognized landmark in Paris.
Bernard Gaudillere, president of the SETE, Eiffel Tower Exploitation Society, second left, stands in front of a new security bulletproof glass barrier under construction around the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, Thursday, June 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
The security renovation should be completed by September.
"When you are on site, you see that the 3-meter high walls, compared to the scale of the monument, are absolutely not visible," said Jose Luis Fuentes, an architect at Dietmar Feichtinger Architects, which is in charge of the project. "It will really look as if the square (under the Eiffel Tower) was open."
Between 6 and 7 million people visit the Eiffel Tower every year.
View of a new security bulletproof glass barrier under construction around the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, Thursday, June 14, 2018. Paris authorities have started replacing the metal security fencing around the Eiffel Tower with a more visually appealing glass wall. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
PARIS (AP) — Students in Paris inspired by Gaza solidarity encampments at campuses in the United States blocked access to a campus building at a prestigious French university Friday, prompting administrators to move all classes online.
The pro-Palestinian protest kicked off a day of drama at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, which counts President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal among its many famous alumni.
Protesters first occupied a central campus building and blocked its entrance with trash cans, wooden platforms and a bicycle. They also gathered at the building’s windows, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans, and hung out Palestinian flags and placards reading “We are all Palestinians."
Later Friday, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators faced each other in a tense standoff in the street outside the school. Riot police stepped in to separate the opposing groups.
As evening fell, a dwindling group of pro-Palestinian protesters refused to budge, ignoring police orders to evacuate the street. Others left peacefully, escorted away from the area by police.
The Gaza war is sharply divisive in France, which has the largest populations of Muslims and Jews in western Europe. France initially sought to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations after Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war. Antisemitism has surged.
Among protesters' demands was that Sciences Po sever ties with Israeli schools.
On Wednesday evening, more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters had also occupied a Sciences Po amphitheater. Most agreed to leave after discussions with management but a small group of students remained. They were removed by police later that night, according to French media reports.
The university administration closed all university buildings and moved classes online Friday. It said in a statement it “strongly condemns these student actions which prevent the proper functioning of the institution and penalize Sciences Po students, teachers and employees.”
The statement said about 60 protesters were inside the occupied building and that administrators were meeting with a student delegation “to try to find a way out of this situation through dialogue.”
Louise, a protester, said the students' actions were inspired by similar demonstrations at New York's Columbia University and other U.S. campuses.
“But our solidarity remains first and foremost with the Palestinian people,” she said. She spoke on condition that only her first name be used over concerns of repercussions.
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war have been digging in at Columbia University, one of a number of demonstrations roiling campuses from California to Connecticut.
Hundreds of students and even some professors have been arrested across the U.S., sometimes amid struggles with police.
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Surk reported from Nice, France. AP correspondent John Leicester contributed.
Students block the Sciences-Po university Friday, April 26, 2024 in Paris. Students at a prestigious university resumed pro-Palestinian protests on Friday, days after French police broke up a demonstration, inspired by Gaza solidarity encampments at campuses around the United States. Dozens of students the Sciences-Po university blocked an entrance to a campus building in central Paris with chairs and bikes. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)
Students blocking the Sciences-Po university flash the V sign Friday, April 26, 2024 in Paris. Students at a prestigious university resumed pro-Palestinian protests on Friday, days after French police broke up a demonstration, inspired by Gaza solidarity encampments at campuses around the United States. Dozens of students the Sciences-Po university blocked an entrance to a campus building in central Paris with chairs and bikes. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)
Students blocking the Sciences-Po university look out Friday, April 26, 2024 in Paris. Students at a prestigious university resumed pro-Palestinian protests on Friday, days after French police broke up a demonstration, inspired by Gaza solidarity encampments at campuses around the United States. Dozens of students the Sciences-Po university blocked an entrance to a campus building in central Paris with chairs and bikes. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)
Students blocking the Sciences-Po university flash the V sign Friday, April 26, 2024 in Paris. Students at a prestigious university resumed pro-Palestinian protests on Friday, days after French police broke up a demonstration, inspired by Gaza solidarity encampments at campuses around the United States. Dozens of students the Sciences-Po university blocked an entrance to a campus building in central Paris with chairs and bikes. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer)
