The iconic Louvre Museum in Paris reopened on Saturday amid heavy security, a day after a French soldier was wounded while tackling a machete-wielding attacker.
There were long queues outside the museum’s famous pyramid entrance, Euronews reported.
Police and soldiers from Operation Sentinelle patrolled the Louvre grounds on Saturday.
A 29-year-old Egyptian national struck one soldier and knocked another to the ground near the entrance to the museum on Friday. He was shot in the abdomen but his condition has been described as stable and improving.
“I don’t feel frightened at all. I feel good. It is a bit unusual to see so many heavily-armed police, but I am not bothered. In Barcelona, we also have police armed like this, to keep watch over tourist sites as well,” said Spanish fine art student, Marta Montilla.
“I am kind of an unlucky guy, because I have been to Notre Dame two days ago, but I could not get inside either because there was some suspicious package right outside of it,” said South Korean tourist Doo-hee Kim.
The French capital has been gradually recovering from a dip in foreign tourism caused by a series of bomb and shooting attacks in November 2015.
A total of 130 people were killed in Paris during the attacks in November 2015. Around 86 died in Nice last July, when a Tunisian national deliberately drove a lorry into the crowds on the seafront celebrating Bastille Day.
France is less than three months away from a presidential election in which security and fears of terrorism are among key issues. Paris also submitted its official bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games on Friday with a launch show at the Eiffel Tower.
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