Eiffel Tower evacuation a safety drill error: Police

Paris, Aug 6: The iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris was erronoeously evacuated on Friday (Aug 5) after an employee mistook it a safety drill for real, the police said, the AFP reported.

"It was a safety exercise drill, the sort that is done dozens of times a week, which went wrong. One employee thought that it was a real threat and the Eiffel Tower was evacuated," the AFP quoted the source as saying.

It was, however, not clear as how many people were asked to leave the tower premises.

France has faced a series of deadly attacks over the past several months and the Eiffel Tower evacuation incident showed how much the people of the European country has become jittery.

The incident happened as French authorities cancelled two major events in Lille and Nice, the resort city which was left bloodied in a truck attack on July 14, on Friday over security fears, the AFP report said. The events included the biggest flea markets, due to be held in Lille and the road cycling championships, scheduled in Nice.

France has found itself in an unstable situation since several festivals have been either cut short or cancelled because of the series of attacks that have put the country, as Defence Minister Jean-Yuves Le Drian said, in a "war situation", the AFP added.

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