Paris (CNN) Officers have caught the man who climbed up the side of the Eiffel Tower on Monday afternoon, triggering an evacuation of the famous structure.

He is now under police control, a Paris police spokesperson told CNN. His motivation for scaling the Paris landmark remains unclear.

Officials closed the tower and began evacuating visitors after the man was first spotted. The situation lasted just over seven hours before the climber's capture.

Pictures and videos of the individual climbing up the tower, which is 324 meters (1,062 feet) tall, have been circulating online.

WHY WOULD YOU CLIMB UP THE EIFFEL TOWER pic.twitter.com/wynQOUl2vR — Paige (@PaigeMcSorley) May 20, 2019

"The Eiffel Tower has been closed and is in the process of being evacuated because a person is scaling it," a spokeswoman for the landmark said earlier in the day.

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