Thick bulletproof glass walls and metal fencing around the Eiffel Tower are intended to protect the nearly 7 million annual visitors to France's most popular landmark.
The security upgrade began last year, and comes after a series of attacks by Islamic militants that have left more than 240 people dead since 2015.
The new walls are part of a €35 million ($41 million) security upgrade due to be finished in mid-July.
The bulletproof glass is 6.5 cm (2.5 inches) thick and guards the Quai Branly Boulevard, which faces the river, as well as the Avenue Gustave Eiffel, which separates the "Iron Lady" from a park.
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
May 12, 2018: Paris knife attack
A man wielding a knife attacks bystanders in a central neighborhood in Paris, killing one person and wounding another four. French prosecutors open a terror probe into the attack, citing witness accounts that the assailant shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest). The militant "Islamic State" (IS) group claims responsibility for the attack, calling the knifeman one of their "soldiers."
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
March 23, 2018: Trebes hostage crisis
An attacker claiming allegiance to IS perpetrates a string of violent crimes in the southern town of Trebes during the morning hours. He kills a man while stealing a car and then fires shots at police officers before entering a Super U grocery store, where he takes hostages. Police shoot dead the attacker. There are at least two deaths and three injured.
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
October 1, 2017: Marseille train station knife attack
A man fatally stabs two women in the Marseille train station. The perpetrator, Ahmed Hanachi, is shot dead by police on patrol. IS claims responsibility for the attack in a post on its news agency Amaq. In it, they call Hanachi one of the group's "soldiers." Two Interior Ministry officials resign after it is revealed that Hanachi was an undocumented immigrant who they had failed to detain.
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
April 20, 2017: Champs-Elysees police shooting
A gunman open fire on police on the Champs-Elysees, Paris' most iconic boulevard. One police officer is killed and two individuals are injured before police shoot the gunman dead. A note praising IS is found next to the gunman's body. The terrorist group also claims responsibility. The attack occurs just days before the first round of the French presidential election. Security is tightened.
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
February 3, 2017: Machete attempt at Louvre
Soldiers shoot and serevely injury a knife-weilding man outside the Louvre museum in Paris after he assails them. One soldier is lightly injured. The attacker had two further machetes in his backpack. A subsequent investigation reveals that the Egyptian national had traveled to France from Dubai on a valid tourist visa. A Twitter account associated with the man's name refers to IS in posts.
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
July 26, 2016: murder of Normandy priest
Two teens enter a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy and slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest in front of five parishioners. Police shoot the 19-year-olds dead as they try to leave. IS takes responsibility and publishes a video of the teens pledging allegiance to the group. Many French Muslims attend the next Sunday's mass to show solidarity with Catholics and condemn the attack.
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
July 14, 2016: Truck attack in Nice
On Bastille Day, France's national holiday, a truck drives through crowds in Nice that had gathered to watch the fireworks on a major beachside promenade. Before being shot dead by police, the driver kills 86 and injuries more than 400 others. IS claims responsibility, stating that the attacker had responded to IS calls to target civilians living of coalition nations fighting IS in Syria and Iraq.
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
November 13, 2015: Bataclan and Paris attack
It is France's most deadly terror attack: IS jihadis armed with automatic weapons and explosives undertake coordinated attacks in Paris including at the Bataclan concert hall, the national stadium and various street cafes. The mass shootings and suicide bombings kill 130 people, injuring hundreds more. IS claims responsibility. Then-President Francois Hollande says it is an act of war by IS.
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
August 21, 2015: Thalys train tragedy averted
A deadly attack is averted: on a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris, a man open fire with an assualt rifle that subsequently jams. Other train passengers tackle the man, preventing deadly violence. Four are injured including the attacker. The assailant had been known to French security officials for past drug-related activities and statements in defense of radical Islamist violence.
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
June 26, 2015: Beheading and truck explosion near Lyon
Yassin Salhi beheads his boss, covering the head in Arabic and placing it on the gate outside the US-based industrial gas company Air Productions, located near Lyon. He also tries to blow up the factory by driving his van into the gas cylinders. The intent fails but unleashes a smaller explosion, injuring two. French authorities claim links between the man and IS. He commits suicide in prison.
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IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015
January 7-9, 2015: Charlie Hebdo and Jewish supermarket attack
First, two men with automatic guns storm the offices of satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 and wounding 12 others. A different gunman kills a police officer the next day, then four more during a hostage-taking on the 9th in a kosher grocery. Police eventually shoot all three gunmen dead, but not before they claim allegiance to IS and al-Qaida. Many demonstrate solidarity with those killed.
Author: Cristina Burack
Bernard Gaudillere, head of the SETE, the company which manages the Eiffel Tower, told journalists this week that the bulletproof glass is "rock-solid for absolute security." He assured reporters the glass would protect against vehicle-ramming attacks.
Maintaining aesthetics
The glass barrier will allow visitors to admire the views of the Eiffel Tower from the nearby Champ-de-Mars gardens to the other side of the Seine River, which cuts through Paris.
Read more: Charlie Hebdo attack anniversary
Metal barriers composed of curved prongs will guard the other two sides of the tower.
The entire security upgrade should be completed by September.
"When you are on site, you see that the 3-meter-high walls, compared to the scale of the monument, are absolutely not visible," said Jose Luis Fuentes, an architect at Dietmar Feichtinger Architects, which is in charge of the project. "It will really look as if the square [under the Eiffel Tower] was open."
Read more: Two years after Bataclan terror attacks
bik/rc (AFP, AP)
