This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, was forced to close on Wednesday after workers staged a walkout in protest over pickpockets. More than 100 staff stopped work to denounce raids by organised gangs which they said were growing in number and becoming "more aggressive", targeting both visitors and staff in the vast galleries.

The museum said in a statement that pickpocketing was a growing problem despite measures taken last year, including tighter co-operation with the police and temporary bans on people already identified as pickpockets from re-entering the museum. Late last year, the Louvre filed an official complaint to the state prosecutor over visitors falling victim to the thieves.

A union official said staff were afraid of organised gangs, which had become increasingly aggressive and included minors who could access the museum for free. Some complained of being spat at, insulted, threatened or kicked, saying thieves had become more violent.

The Louvre, which had 10 million visitors last year, would normally draw 30,000 a day at this time of year to see works including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Disappointed tourists gathered outside the museum on Wednesday yesterday afternoon. "We've been cheated," Mariam Kamel, 16, a student from the International School in Bellevue, Washington, who had planned to see the museum on a school trip, told Associated Press. Her teacher, Rhonda Eastman, said she had given specific instructions to her students to avoid being pickpocketed while in Paris.

"On the metro they no longer speak English, they don't stand together, they're snobs," Eastman said.

The museum will reopen on Thursday.

Strikes have closed the Louvre in the past, including in 2009 when workers protested against government plans not to replace half of retiring public workers, including museum staff. In 2001, the museum was closed for a week by a strike over working hours.