Agencies
Paris
France celebrated its national holiday, Bastille Day, on Sunday as the country prepares to host the Olympic Games. President Emmanuel Macron opened the traditional military parade by reviewing the troops, followed by the Marseillaise, the national anthem.
Preparations for the Games have blocked the military parade from its traditional route on the Champs Elysees, forcing a military contingent to march on the nearby Avenue Foch instead.
Due to Olympic security measures, the number of troops were reduced compared to previous years. Some 4,000 people, down from 6,500 last year, and 162 horses marched in the tightly choreographed show. No tanks or armoured vehicles took part, but overhead more than 60 aircraft flew in formation, including a British Typhoon fighter alongside French Mirages and Rafales.
This year’s parade didn’t feature a foreign guest like last year’s visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but it did have a very special participant: the Olympic flame. Just 12 days before the start of the Summer Games, the torch relay reached the French capital.
This year’s Bastille Day celebrations offer Macron a moment of distraction from the political turmoil he unleashed with a snap election that weakened his centrist party and his presidency.
