Posted on 07/21/2004 7:44:58 PM PDT by wagglebee
French authorities rushed thousands of tourists out of the Eiffel Tower after receiving a warning that a plane was about to crash into the famous Paris landmark, police and the tower's management said.
Around 4,000 people were evacuated from the 324-metre (1,070-foot) structure, which was closed for two hours before police ascertained that the threat was a hoax and it was re-opened.
The company managing the tower, SNTE, said in a statement it had received "an anonymous message" which triggered the alert.
It refused to elaborate on the threat, but a police source said a caller had spoken of a plane about to hit the Eiffel Tower in an attack reminiscent of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York's World Trade Centre.
A careful verification showed the threat was a hoax, but only after authorities emptied the nearly full tower as a precautionary measure -- a procedure that took 40 minutes to complete.
The last time the structure was evacuated was nearly exactly a year ago, on July 22, 2003, when a small fire broke out at the top, in a zone reserved for broadcast transmission equipment.
French officials are particularly sensitive to threats to the Eiffel Tower and other symbolic landmarks.
In 1994, a group of four Algerian Islamic extremists hijacked an Air France flight heading to Paris. French commandos stormed the aircraft during a refuelling stop in Marseille after authorities learnt that the men planned to crash it into the Eiffel Tower.
Wednesday's incident occurred at the height of the tourist season in France, which is the world's most visited country.
So they should have surrendered by now..
Damn. Missed again Achmed Abdul Mohammed Atta? (sorry, couldn't resist)
I didn't realize the Eiffel tower could hold 4000 people at one time. It doesn't look that big.
The French tend to exagerate a bit. Plus everyone in France has to carry a white flag at all times.
(Reuters) Jan 22nd--PARIS--French President Jacques Chirac has agreed to a proposal by leading Frech Imams to convert the famed Eiffel Tower into the world's tallest mosque. The Muslim leaders suggested that if the French government made the Tower into an Islamic place of worship, it would virtually guarantee its immunity to terror attack. To their surprise, President Chirac agreed to their proposal immediately. As of next Monday, only Muslims will be permitted into the Eiffel Tower for worship, although Christians will be permitted to visit every Tuesday. Jews will be forbidden.
Based on their website statistics, they get about 17,000 visitors a day, so it does seem a little inflated, but they may have counted all the people that potentially would have passed though during the time it was closed.
Oui oui!
MICHAEL MOORE BRINGS DOWN HOUSE: LONGEST STANDING OVATION...
Ovation for Moore's 'Fahrenheit' lasts longer than Bush dawdled - Roger Ebert
Moore's anti-Bush documentary was received rapturously at its black-tie screening here Monday, and a friend told me the ovation lasted 25 minutes. In my report I suggested that Cannes ovations, like the estimates of parade crowds in Chicago, have a tendency to be exaggerated. Since I attended an 8 a.m. press screening, I was not inside the Palais des Festivals to clock it myself.Now I have another source. The ovation lasted 20 minutes, according to Variety, which may be correct, because its reporters all carry stopwatches to check the running times of movies.
In any event it was "the longest ovation in the history of the festival," according to Thierry Fremaux, the festival's director. At a party Monday evening, I asked Moore. "It depends on when you start counting," he said. "Do you start with the beginning of the closing credits or when the lights go up? When they just wouldn't stop clapping, I walked out and they kept applauding in the lobby."
Don't know "how" long it was but they know it was "long". This record will stand too unless someone applauds for say 2 hours after some film.
Poor little cabbages had to get nervous....
I'd laugh my butt off if some terrorists flew a plane into the Eiffel Tower. FOR REAL DUDE!!
We'll know there's going to be a real attack when the Eiffel Tower turns yellow.
Timne I saw it there were maybe 20 people counting the man selling postcards from his overcoat pockets.
20 people ? When was it dude, before the Eiffel Tower was completed, maybe ?
That was before tourism became an industry. Most tourists were students.
Maybe the Eiffel Tower was closed down this day ? Twenty visitors seem an extremely low figure. But, well, I must confess I never went there myself - I'm too much the provincial for marveling at the sight of Paris from the Eiffel Tower, I suppose. lol
Yeah, maybe six went up in the tower. Some wouldn't go up at all--the structure was making noises, clanking and popping. I supposed it was strong enough for a temporary structure and went up to the upper platform. Somebody--a heartsick lover probably--jumped from the upper platform the next day even though fencing had been installed to make it difficult.
Good Lord ! This place is the favorite suicide place for some guys. Apart from that - and the occasional sky-diver - the Tower is really safe. But since it's a metalliuc structure, I suppose temperature variations can cause a lot of metallic noises.
The new French flag has peel-off red and blue stripes.
I'm sure that the French thoughtfully left white hankies on the tower as they left.
I heard a whole division of french soldiers surrendered to Mickey Mouse during the Euro Disney fireworks show last night.
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