How a gang of pickpockets shut down the Louvre

French museum workers walk out as the home to the Mona Lisa is plagued by increasingly aggressive thieves

Young pickpocketers are targeting the museum's English-speaking tourists.
(Image credit: CHARLES PLATIAU/Reuters/Corbis)

Employees at the Louvre agreed to return to work on Thursday after a one-day walkout, but only when their bosses said they'd tighten security to crack down on increasingly aggressive gangs of pickpockets at the famous Paris art museum. The strike left crowds of disappointed tourists waiting for hours outside the Louvre, home to such masterpieces as the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. About 200 of the 450 staff members it takes to run the museum participated in the walkout, and 100 of them picketed in front of the Ministry of Culture demanding that the government tackle the problem. So what's all the ruckus about?

Why are the gangs so threatening? Museum workers say the pickpockets cruise the Louvre in groups of up to 30. They're usually minors, so they can get into the Louvre any time, as admission is free for visitors under 18. English-speaking tourists complain that the thieves, many of whom are immigrants from Eastern Europe, target them, asking, "Do you speak English?" or giving them an English postcard to sign or read. While the person is distracted, more of the thieves show up, grabbing the victim's wallet or other valuables and then quickly walking away.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.