Eiffel tower evacuated following bomb scare

Parisian police evactuated The Eiffel Tower and the adjoining Champs de Mars gardens Tuesday night following a bomb scare. 

French Gendarmes of the Republican Guard patrol near the Eiffel Tower in Paris Tuesday Reuters

Shortly before 9 p.m. local time the police evacuated some two thousand people who were on the tower and in the surrounding gardens, a police officer at the site said.

"The company managing the Eiffel Tower received an anonymous telephone call around 8:20 pm (1820 GMT)," the Paris police told AFP.

"Special units, one with sniffer dogs, went to the site to search the Eiffel Tower floor by floor," police added.

A police officer said about 2000 people were in the area at the time of the alert but added that they left calmly shortly before 9:00 pm (1900 GMT).

The people evacuated, mostly French and foreign tourists, 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.