Paris’s iconic Eiffel Tower was shut to tourists for several hours on Friday as staff walked off the job to protest a surge in gangs of pickpockets roaming around the monument. The closure of one of the busiest tourist attractions in the French capital ahead of a long holiday weekend recalled a similar strike at the Louvre museum in 2013 as staff protested against the often violent pickpockets stalking the halls of the palace. Workers at the 126-year-old iron lattice tower — a glittering symbol of Paris — finally went back to work at around 4:00 pm (1400 GMT), after hundreds of disappointed tourists were turned away throughout the day. The workers said in a statement they had chosen to down tools due to an ‘increase in pickpockets around the Eiffel Tower and several threats and

Read More: Eiffel Tower reopens after staff walk out over pickpockets roaming around the monument