Eiffel Tower evacuated hours before Olympics Closing Ceremony after security breach

The Eiffel Tower has been evacuated after a shirtless man was spotted climbing up the Paris monument just hours before the Olympic closing ceremony.

French police evacuated the surrounding area after a man was spotted ascending up the landmark on Sunday afternoon. The climber was spotted scaling the 330-meter (1,083-foot) tower without a harness following a major security breach.

The man was filmed just above the Olympic rings above the first viewing deck on the second section of the monument. Police escorted visitors away from the area at 3pm, with some visitors briefly locked on the second floor for around 30 minutes.

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Footage of the incident was shared on social media before later posts appeared to show a man who resembled the climber being escorted away by police in handcuffs. Specialist police climbers are said to be seen in some social media videos.

Videos of the incident were posted on social media, with one eyewitness in a clip uploaded to X exclaiming: "There is a dude climbing the Eiffel Tower. He just passed the blue ring. I don’t think he is wearing a shirt. Uh that is crazy."

While other clips showed security personnel demanding witnesses to stop filming the climber and to move away from the situation. A woman who tweeted the incident wrote: "Not someone climbing the Eiffel Tower and making the whole place evacuate still had a good time nonetheless."

The bizarre incident has taken place just hours before the closing ceremony is scheduled to start across the French capital in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis at the Stade de France. Despite the Eiffel Tower and the River Seine being the centerpiece of the opening ceremony, the landmark is not expected to be a part of the closing event.

Ahead of the closing of the two-week sporting spectacle, France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced prior to Sunday’s security breach that 23,000 police officers will be deployed around Paris, including an extra 3,000 to be mobilized around the Stade de France to ensure safety on the final day of the Games.

Darmanin insisted that the additional security measures taken were only precautionary, saying there is “no (terrorist) threat that would specifically target the closing ceremony.” He added that the high-level security presence “will allow us to celebrate our athletes and the very successful Olympic Games, in terms of sport and organization and in terms of security.”

The Eiffel Tower has played a major role in the Olympics since the opening ceremony saw Celine Dion perform from one of its viewing areas. The monument has provided a victorious background for athletes like Novak Djokovic celebrating their Olympic medals. The beach volleyball has also been hosted under the shadow of the iconic tower.