On Saturday August 12, 2023, the famous Eiffel Tower, known around the globe for its many lights that twinkle in the middle of the night, was evacuated for several hours on two occasions. Indeed, by midday and early evening, the perimeter around the Iron Lady was completely cordoned off due to bomb threats. Our colleagues from Parisian revealed on Sunday August 13, 2023 that these alerts turned out to be false. It all started with suspicious messages online. The two bomb threats targeting the Eiffel Tower came from messages posted on the jeuxvideo.com forum, a site where video game enthusiasts can discuss their common passion. But also on the website moncommissariat.fr, which recently became masecurite.intereur.gouv.fr, which allows you to communicate with the police forces directly on the Internet. The Paris prosecutor’s office developed in a press release on Sunday August 13, 2023 relayed by The Parisian : “The Pharos platform reported two false bomb threats that led to evacuations from the Eiffel Tower on Saturday August 12 [2023]carried out on jeuxvideo.com and on moncommissariat.fr”.
Serious repercussions for the authors of false alarms
While the Paris public prosecutor’s office did not specify the content of the messages that aroused the authorities’ concern, the court’s press release specified: “The Paris public prosecutor’s office seized the police station of the 7th arrondissement ofan investigation of threats of crimes against persons, and the disclosure of false information for the purpose of creating the belief that destruction dangerous to persons is going to be or has been committedwhich incurs two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros”. The author(s) of the false alerts therefore incur very serious repercussions following their bad joke. The last bomb threat that led to an evacuation of the Eiffel Tower for two hours dates back to September 2020, after an anonymous call to the police. A man said he was going “Blow up everything at the Eiffel Tower”according to a police source from the Parisian. You should know that these alerts are taken very seriously given the number of visitors received by the most famous monument in France. Indeed, in 2022, the Iron Lady welcomed more than 5.8 million visitors.