France will mark its national holiday, Bastille Day, today with a traditional military parade on the famous Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, local media reported, adding that the parade will be held in light of increased security measures due to instability in the world.
This year's celebration will highlight France's strategic solidarity with its international partners. This year, Indonesia is the guest country of the parade, the Parisien newspaper reported.
On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of French-Indonesian diplomatic relations, an impressive contingent of the Indonesian Armed Forces will open the parade on the Champs-Élysées.
"This symbolic gesture illustrates the vitality of the strategic partnership in the Indo-Pacific, based on a shared commitment to multilateralism and international law," the French newspaper said.
Interior Minister Bruno Retayo said that 65.000 security forces will be deployed across France, and around 11.500 in Paris itself, Le Monde newspaper reported.
The Paris Police Prefecture expects around 60.000 citizens in Paris during the military parade, while concerts will be held in the evening from 21.00:XNUMX PM, and fireworks will be organized at the Eiffel Tower around midnight, as well as in many cities in France.
French President Emmanuel Macron said last night that "freedom has never been so threatened" since the end of World War II in 1945 as it is now and "never has peace on the European continent depended so much on immediate decisions."
"We are living in a moment of turmoil. We have long understood its inevitability," Macron said in his traditional address to the armed forces on the eve of Bastille Day.
"Never before has peace on our continent depended so much on our current decisions," Macron added, citing in particular "imperialism and annexation powers" like Russia, which launched a war against Ukraine in February 2022.
The holiday is celebrated to commemorate the storming of the Bastille, the infamous Parisian fortress-prison, on July 14, 1789. It was one of the key moments of the French Revolution.
The fall of the Bastille symbolized the unity of the nation and the end of the absolutist monarchy. After that, on August 26, 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was adopted. This declaration later established the French national values - liberty, equality and fraternity (Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite).
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