Eiffel tower closes as French unions stage new strike against austerity

The Eiffel Tower has remained closed since Thursday, October 2, as hundreds of thousands of protestors marched across France in a major strike against proposed spending cuts.

The authorities displayed a closure sign, apologising to visitors for shutting down the iconic tourist spot "due to a strike."

This symbolises the widespread disruption in the country due to rising protests.

The protests have been called by eight major unions of France, representing the third wave of demonstrations in a month against austerity measures.

Significant demands of the demonstrators include higher taxation on the wealthy, a reversal of the increase to the retirement age, and a demand for increased spending on public services, as reported by Reuters.

The protests occur amid ongoing political uncertainty, as new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, appointed on September 9, 2025, has yet to form a government or present his fiscal plan.

Sophie Binet, head of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union, stated, “We must respond to social demands and definitively bury all the sacrifices for the working world.”

Although the turnout was not as high as that seen in September, the police counted 195,000 protestors around the country out of 500,000; the continuing movement is a sign of constant pressure on the government.

There were also partial transportation disruptions due to the strike, and some regional trains were running with reduced capacity; however, Paris metro service was mostly unaffected.

The political impasse persists because, in France, the budget deficit reached 5.8% of GDP last year, almost twice the EU limit of 3%, and this puts the financial demands and anti-austerity sentiment against one another.