Bulletproof glass wall to be built around base of Eiffel Tower

While Donald Trump is promising to build walls to keep out ‘bad hombres’, Paris is planning on building one of their own but on a smaller scale. 

The French are planning on building an eight-foot high bulletproof glass wall around the base of their most iconic landmark – the Eiffel Tower. There have been metal barriers in place since the Euros last year, which have stayed in place amidst numerous terror attacks in the city.

Plans were revealed just two days after a 16-year-old girl and two men were charged with making explosives in their home and plotting a terror attack on the tower.

The new glass structure will cost around £17 million and is part of a €300 million revamp of the tower of the next 15 years. 

It’s aim is to prevent attackers or vehicles storming the tourist site that is visited by seven million people each year. And while many Parisians hated the structure that was supposed to be a temporary installation in 1889, most have grown to not care at all about it until it’s about to change. Like the fact Big Ben will be falling silent and we all got sad, even though we don’t even notice the bongs on the news.

So, the concern is that it will look ruin the tower’s aesthetic. Paris deputy mayor Jean-François Martins said he wanted a “permanent and aesthetic barrier,” because “unfortunately the risk of terrorism has not gone away.”

Work is due to start in the autumn, but needs to be approved by a historic sites commission and then by the environment ministry. 

The larger renovations are part of Paris’ bids for the 2024 Olympics and 2025 Universal Exhibition, but as the city continues to be on a terrorism high alert the wall will be first to improve the look, make access easier and strengthen the protection of visitors and staff.