France’s Bastille Day parade meets the Olympic torch relay in an exceptional year

PARIS (AP) — Paris hosted an extra-special visitor for France’s nationwide vacation Sunday — the Olympic flame lighting up town’s grandiose navy parade for Bastille Day.

Simply 12 days earlier than the French capital hosts exceptionally bold and high-security Summer time Video games, the torch relay joined up with hundreds of troopers, sailors, rescuers and medics marching in Paris beneath roaring fighter jets. And the day wrapped up with a spectacular Olympic-themed mild present on the Eiffel Tower.

Right here’s a have a look at what the vacation’s about, and what’s totally different this 12 months:

What does Bastille Day have a good time?

On July 14, 1789, revolutionaries stormed the Bastille fortress and jail in Paris, heralding the beginning of the French Revolution and the tip of the monarchy.

The vacation is central to the French calendar, with live shows and events throughout the nation. It goals to embody the nationwide motto of ‘’liberty, equality and fraternity,” although not everybody in France feels the nation lives as much as that promise.

The Paris parade is the vacation’s spotlight. This 12 months, it paid tribute to those that freed France from Nazi occupation 80 years in the past, with a re-enactment of the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, and a presentation by service members from the 31 international locations whose troops contributed to the liberation. About half are African nations that had been beneath French colonial rule throughout World Battle II.

Who takes half?

Some 4,000 individuals and 162 horses marched within the tightly choreographed parade, amongst them items that served in NATO missions in jap Europe, towards Islamic extremists within the Sahel, defending French territories within the South Pacific and world transport corridors. They had been joined this 12 months by three German officers from a cross-border brigade.

The decorative uniforms are wealthy in symbolism — most notably these of the French International Legion sappers, with lengthy beards, leather-based aprons and axes from their authentic function as route-clearers for advancing armies.

Overhead, 65 plane flew in formations, together with a British Hurricane fighter alongside French Mirages and Rafales, rescue helicopters and plane utilized in missions from Afghanistan to Mali or worldwide drug busts.

President Emmanuel Macron kicked Sunday’s occasions off with a evaluate of the troops.

Navy bands and choirs performed an vital function, performing a medley of French navy songs, American jazz tunes, a Scottish bagpipe ballad — and the Marseillaise.

The numbers are scaled again in contrast with earlier years, due to Olympics safety measures. Round 130,000 police deployed round France for the vacation weekend.

What’s the political context?

This 12 months’s Bastille Day provided Macron a second of distraction from the political turmoil he unleashed with snap elections that weakened his pro-business centrist social gathering and his presidency.

The outcome left a deadlocked parliament with nobody clearly in cost. The prime minister might depart workplace inside days, whereas the left-wing alliance that gained essentially the most seats is struggling to agree on a proposed substitute.

In the meantime, Russia’s battle in Ukraine is threatening Europe’s safety. At a gathering with navy leaders Saturday, Macron stated France will sustain assist for Ukraine and referred to as for larger protection spending subsequent 12 months due to ‘’approaching threats.’’

What’s totally different this 12 months?

The Olympic torch relay reached Paris simply in time for the parade, escorted by riders on horseback, 25 torchbearers, and cadets dressed within the Olympic colours forming the shapes of the 5 interlocking Olympic rings.

The primary torchbearer was Col. Thibault Vallette, equestrian gold medalist within the 2016 Rio Olympics, who handed it on to a bunch of younger athletes smiling broadly as they handed it hand-to-hand in entrance of the presidential tribune.

After its Bastille Day look, the torch relay swung by Notre Dame Cathedral, the historic Sorbonne college and the Louvre Museum earlier than it heads to different Paris landmarks Monday. Celebrities carrying it Sunday included Ok-pop star Jin of BTS and French tennis legend-turned-singer Yannick Noah.

Olympic venue building meant the Bastille Day parade was rerouted, and spectators couldn’t collect beneath the Eiffel Tower to observe the annual fireworks present.

However that, too, was all in regards to the 2024 Video games: Whereas fireworks burst out from the tower itself, illuminated drones shaped shapes representing Olympic sports activities, suspended over the adjoining Seine River — proper the place the opening ceremony is scheduled to happen July 26.

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Nicolas Garriga, Oleg Cetinic and Philippe Marion in Paris contributed.

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Comply with AP’s Olympics protection at https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games