Paris's Louvre museum was on Wednesday closed due to a walkout by some staff in protest at a growing number of increasingly aggressive pickpockets, including children, targeting both workers and tourists, a union said.

The museum's management said it had already lodged a complaint with prosecutors in December 2012 and demanded a greater police presence.

"Two hundred staff exercised their right to walk off the job on Wednesday," a museum spokesperson told AFP. About 100 staff later Wednesday gathered in front of the Ministry of Culture where a delegation was received. Christelle Guyader of the SUD union said staff had had enough of the situation.

"Sometimes they come to work afraid because they find themselves confronted with organised groups of pickpockets who are increasingly aggressive and which include children, who get into the museum free and even when taken in for questioning by police come back a few days later," she said.