The man was arrested this Thursday morning shortly after skydiving from a mountaintop. Eiffel Tower, into which he slipped at dawn a few hours before the opening of the monument to the public.

Police sources told the news agency EFE that the Eiffel Tower security forces were alerted at 5:40 local time (3:40 GMT) because they detected the presence of a man who was climbing the east pillar.

At 6:50 (04:50 Moscow time), a man with a backpack, whose age and nationality were not disclosed, jumped out with a parachute and landed near the stadium. Emile Antoine which is nearby, the sources added.

There he was detained by police officers who took him to the police station.

Authorities indicated that he displayed “suspicious behavior”, although no further details were released about the incident that delayed the unveiling of the monument, which received 5.9 million tourists in 2022 alone.

In its turn, Society for the Exploitation of the Eiffel Tower (SETE) filed a complaint about illegal entry and endangering the lives of third parties.

The incident, which somewhat delayed the opening to the public, comes after the Eiffel Tower had to be evacuated twice this past weekend due to two false bomb warnings.