Eiffel Tower reopens after bomb threat, evacuation

People stand in a street after the evacuation of the Eiffel Tower and the park surrounding the Paris landmark following a bomb alert Tuesday. A police officer said about 25,000 people were in the area at the time of the alert but added that they left calmly. Photo: AFP

Police evacuated some 2,000 people from the Eiffel Tower and the park surrounding the Paris landmark Tuesday following a bomb alert that turned out to be a false alarm, the police said.

Within hours, police also cleared a suburban train station not far from Notre Dame cathedral after a bomb alert, but no device was found.

The Eiffel Tower reopened Wednesday after no bomb was found.

"Special units, one with (search) dogs, went to the site to search the Eiffel Tower floor by floor," a Paris police official said.

The 324-meter-high tower has three floors open to visitors and is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world.

The people evacuated were asked to stay on the nearby Seine River banks and the Champ de Mars park to the east, and the tower area was cordoned off, an AFP reporter on the scene said.

The cordons were later removed, and several dozen Eiffel Tower staff menbers were allowed to enter the structure to collect their belongings.

"Nothing was found. It was a false alarm," a police officer at the scene told reporters.

The Eiffel Tower was built in two years by engineer Gustave Eiffel as the centerpiece of the 1889 world fair in Paris.

In central Paris, police briefly evacuated the platforms at the Saint Michel suburban train station after an anonymous phone call.