Eiffel Tower reopens after bomb threat lifted

 

http://usat.ly/10nHM8A

 

re-opens after bomb threat evacuation

Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY10:08p.m. EDT March 30, 2013

Nearly 1,400 people were evacuated for two hours after an anonymous phone call warning..

Tourists take pictures near a cordoned off Eiffel Tower in Paris on Saturday after it was evacuated for two hours. More than 1,400 people were ordered off the famed tourist monument for two hours following a bomb threat.(Photo: Thomas Coex, AFP/Getty Images)

Story Highlights

• The evacuation followed an anonymous bomb threat
• The tower was re-opened after search with sniffer dogs
• France has faced al-Qaeda threats for Mali intervention

Police evacuated the Eiffel Tower for two hours Saturday following an anonymous bomb threat, but allowed the public back in after searching the monument with sniffer dogs for possible explosives.

Le Parisien reported that the security measures were lifted around 10 p.m. local time.

A Paris police official says nearly 1,400 people were evacuated following a request from tower operators after the warning Saturday. Police then searched the famed tourist site and set up a broad security perimeter.

French authorities have stepped up counterterrorism measures in recent weeks amid heightened concern about threats to France over its military campaign against al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Mali which began more than two months ago.

The tower is occasionally evacuated because of such warnings — at least once last year and twice in 2011. The 1,063-foot tower is one of the world's top tourist attractions, with millions of visitors a year.