Glass barrier fitted around Eiffel Tower

Paris is installing a bulletproof glass barrier and metal fences around the Eiffel Tower, designed to protect the monument from terrorist attacks.
Each glass panel is three metres high and weighs 1.5 tonnes.
In all, 450 glass panels will make up the two walls to the north and south of the tower.
The barrier is almost 7cm thick, runs along the tower’s park and is also a vehicle barrier.
The security precautions, under construction since last year, come with France still on alert after attacks that have killed more than 240 people since 2015.
The new walls are part of security measures that have cost almost US$35 million and are due for completion by mid-July.
The glass walls being installed allow visitors to admire the views from the Champ-de-Mars gardens to the other side of the River Seine that cuts through Paris.
To prevent vehicle attacks, 420 blocks will be placed in front of the glass walls as an added protection.
Bernard Gaudillere, head of the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), which runs the tower, said his team worked with police to decide how to secure the monument.
The tower is regularly patrolled by armed troops and the forecourt underneath the iron structure has been fenced off over terrorism fears since June 2016.
The November 2015 attacks left 130 people dead at various Paris nightspots.
Gaudillere said the temporary fences were “not very aesthetically pleasing”, looking like a building site, but added that they would be “infinitely nicer and more romantic” when the glass wall was finished.
Visitor numbers are expected to reach 7 million this year.
Tourists could still visit the gardens and forecourt underneath the Eiffel Tower for free once passing through the security fences, Gaudillere said.
The structure is seeing a €300-million revamp ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
A group called Les Amis du Champ de Mars said last year that there had been a lack of consultation with residents, an “exorbitant cost” for the fencing and difficulty of access for buses and for those with disabilities.
The group said the municipal authorities had used special powers provided by the state of emergency to push through security measures without assessing their impact on the public.
France introduced anti-terror legislation in October 2017 after almost two years of the national state of emergency imposed by then-president Francois Hollande after the Paris attacks.