OLYMPIC RINGS OF FIRE OVER EIFFEL TOWER

French minister plans to wrest control of landmark from Paris mayor amid logo row

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PARIS - A row over the Olympic logo becoming a long-term feature of the Eiffel Tower has taken a fresh turn, with a French government minister bidding to take de facto control of the monument.

The famed landmark sported giant Olympic rings during this summer's Olympics and Paralympics.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo - encouraged by the popular success of the Games - said a version of the decoration should adorn the tower until the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

But that proposal has polarised opinion in the French capital and at the highest level of state. Already, it has been severely criticised by descendants of the tower's designer Gustave Eiffel, as well as conservation groups.

At the end of September, workers removed the 30-tonne steel rings that were first installed in June between the first and second floors of the tower.

Ms Hidalgo has campaigned for lighter, less prominent, versions of the original to be installed in their place.

But even this toned-down proposal is too much for sceptics, some of whom are also bitter political enemies of Ms Hidalgo.