Police arrest a man climbing the Eiffel Tower, prompting an evacuation hours before closing ceremony

PARIS (AP) — French police evacuated the area around the Eiffel Tower after a man was seen climbing the Paris landmark hours before the Olympics closing ceremony Sunday.

The shirtless man was seen scaling the 330-meter (1,083-foot) tall tower in the afternoon. It’s unclear where he began his ascent, but he was spotted just above the Olympic rings adorning the second section of the monument, just above the first viewing deck.

Police escorted visitors away from the area around 3 p.m. Some visitors who were briefly locked on the second floor were allowed to exit around 30 minutes later.

“An individual started climbing the Eiffel Tower at 2:45 p.m., police intervened and the person was detained,” a Paris police official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation into the incident.

The Eiffel Tower was a centerpiece of the opening ceremony, with Celine Dion serenading the city from one of its viewing areas. The Tower is not expected to be part of the closing ceremony, which was set to begin at Stade de France in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis at 9 p.m.

The incident occurred as the Olympic competition winds down and security services in Paris and beyond are shifting their focus to the closing ceremony that will bring the curtain down on the Games.

More than 30,000 police officers have been deployed around Paris on Sunday. France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said about 3,000 police officers will be mobilized around the Stade de France, and 20,000 police troops and other security personnel in Paris and the Saint-Denis area will be mobilized late into Sunday night to ensure safety on the last day of the Olympics.

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Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games