Olympic flame arrives in Paris, at the center of Bastille Day parade

The Place de la Concorde, the place the Bastille Day procession historically ends, has been closed in current weeks for the development of momentary Olympic stadiums. Consequently, the parade needed to be moved to the Avenue Foch, one of many shorter and fewer well-known roads that encompass the Arc de Triomphe.

Whereas the festivities often draw tens of hundreds of individuals and will be simply accessed, authorities restricted the variety of spectators this yr to six,200, who — amid area constraints and safety issues — have been required to enroll upfront. Preparations for the Olympics have strained police assets in France, which additionally restricted the variety of legislation enforcement officers marching in Sunday’s parade.

Organizers maintained the standard air present. Jets sprayed blue, white and purple smoke — the colours of the French flag — into the clouded sky above Paris.

The show of tanks and planes is often the centerpiece of the annual parade, which on Sunday additionally marked the eightieth anniversary of the nation’s liberation from the Nazis. However the star of this yr’s festivities was the Olympic flame. Driving a horse, Col. Thibaut Vallette, an equestrian gold medalist on the 2016 Olympic Video games, carried the torch down the avenue.

After the parade ended, the flame continued its journey by means of central Paris, the place tickets weren’t vital to observe the festivities. Marie Niro, 27, noticed it go close to the Nationwide Meeting, the decrease home of Parliament. “It’s a second that we share, a second that unites us,” she stated.

Armored automobiles on show for Bastille Day have been positioned just some toes from the momentary Olympic venue that has been constructed on the Place des Invalides; at a close-by recruiting occasion for the navy, younger Parisians mingled with vacationers.

Mixing France’s navy parade with the arrival of the Olympic flame was “atypical,” Niro acknowledged.

“However we protect our traditions,” she stated.

The Olympic torch will journey across the capital area and surrounding areas over the approaching days earlier than making its method again to the town middle on July 26, the day of the Opening Ceremonies on the Seine.

Sunday is the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille fortress in Paris on July 14, 1789, which marked the start of the French Revolution that toppled the monarchy. The event is widely known with occasions throughout France every year, and the Paris navy parade and fireworks on the Eiffel Tower are seen because the highlights of the day.

Sunday’s ceremonies have been attended by President Emmanuel Macron, who was accompanied by members of his cupboard, together with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

Solely every week in the past, it appeared doable that Macron is perhaps pressured to share energy with a far-right prime minister. However legislative elections in France final Sunday resulted as an alternative in political gridlock, with no social gathering or alliance having gained an outright majority within the Nationwide Meeting.

Attal, who supplied to step down Monday within the wake of the election, was requested by Macron to remain on for “the steadiness of the nation.”

Macron now faces the prospect of a closely diminished mandate, however has sought to painting himself as going about enterprise as standard. Final week, he attended the NATO summit in Washington.

Safety stays a paramount concern for the organizers of this yr’s Olympic Video games. The Israel-Gaza struggle has prompted bomb scares, an increase in antisemitic incidents and a renewed worry of radicalization right here. Tensions with Russia over its struggle in Ukraine — and the associated bans on the Russian and Belarusian athlete delegations — have elevated the chance of cyberattacks, French officers stated.

Inside Minister Gérald Darmanin stated Saturday that 3,570 folks have been excluded from attending the Olympics, together with “dozens of radical people near Islamist, ultra-left and ultra-right circles.”

French authorities stated earlier this yr that they have been aiming to have screened over 1 million folks by the point the Video games start, together with coaches, athletes, volunteers and contributors in occasions akin to Sunday’s navy parade. Up to now, 770,000 folks have been screened, Darmanin stated Saturday.

Annabelle Timsit contributed to this report.