Watch: British man arrested for climbing the Eiffel Tower

After scaling the 1,083-foot-tall monument without any equipment, he was taken into custody for ‘endangering the lives of others’

A British man has been arrested after he climbed the Eiffel Tower hours before the start of the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games.
The shirtless man, identified as a professional climber in French media, scaled the 1,083-foot-tall monument without any equipment.
In one video shared on social media, the blond, bearded man, who has not been named, looks into the camera and says “Bloody warm, innit?”.
Footage captured the man climbing the lattice-work above the Olympic rings at around 2.45pm local time. He was heading towards the second floor of the tower, where he was stopped and arrested.
🇫🇷 ALERTE – Un homme torse nu a été aperçu en train d’escalader la tour Eiffel, juste au-dessus des anneaux olympiques. Le monument a été évacué. (AP) #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/ZrsHdiFAXt
Police handcuffed him and took him into custody for “endangering the lives of others”.
The scene stunned tourists in the area who could be heard gasping at the sight of a man climbing the iconic monument, which has been the site of beach volleyball during the Games.
The Paris Olympics got off to a difficult start with coordinated sabotage attempts that caused major disruptions to France’s national rail line.
But doomsayer prophecies of chaos and widespread strikes never materialised, and the last two weeks have progressed largely without incident.
The city is under heavy police presence, with more than 35,000 police and gendarmes deployed throughout the games. That number peaked to 45,000 during the opening ceremony, which posed an unprecedented security challenge as it was held on the Seine River.
The closing ceremony on Sunday will be more conventional and will take place in a stadium under the watch of 3,000 police officers who will be deployed to secure its perimeter. An estimated 80,000 spectators are expected to attend, including athletes and heads of state.