PARIS– Paris welcomed an extra-special guest for France’s national holiday on Sunday – the olympic flame illuminating the city’s grand military parade to Bastille Day.
Just 12 days before the French capital hosts an exceptionally ambitious and high-security event summer gamesthe torch relay joined thousands of soldiers, sailors, rescue workers and doctors marching in Paris to the roar of fighter planes.
As people across France mark the day with concerts, parties and fireworks, here’s a look at what the holiday is all about and what’s different this year:
On July 14, 1789, revolutionaries stormed the Bastille fortress and prison in Paris, heralding the beginning of the French Revolution and the end of the monarchy.
The holiday is central to the French calendar, with events across the country. It aims to embody the national motto of “liberty, equality and fraternity”, although not everyone in France feels that the country lives up to that promise.
The Paris parade is the highlight of the holiday. This year, it paid tribute to those who freed France from Nazi occupation 80 years ago, with a reenactment of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, and a presentation by military personnel from the 31 countries whose troops contributed to the liberation. About half are African nations that were under French colonial rule during World War II.
Around 4,000 people and 162 horses marched in the tightly choreographed spectacle, including units that served in NATO missions in Eastern Europe, against Islamic extremists in the Sahel, protecting French territories in the South Pacific and global maritime corridors. They were joined this year by three German officers from a cross-border brigade.
The ornamental uniforms are rich in symbolism – particularly those of the sappers of the French Foreign Legion, with long beards, leather aprons and axes, due to their original role as pioneers of routes for advancing armies.
Above, 65 aircraft flew in formations, including a British Typhoon fighter alongside French Mirages and Rafales, rescue helicopters and aircraft used in missions from Afghanistan to Mali or in international drug busts.
President Emmanuel Macron kicked off Sunday’s events with a troop review.
Military bands and choirs played an important role, performing a medley of French military songs, American jazz tunes, a Scottish bagpipe ballad – and the Marseillaise.
The numbers are reduced compared to previous years due to Olympic security measures. Around 130,000 police officers are deployed across France for the bank holiday weekend.
This year’s Bastille Day offered Macron a moment of distraction from the political turmoil he unleashed with early elections this weakened his pro-business centrist party and his presidency.
The result left a deadlocked parliament, with no one clearly in charge. The prime minister could leave office within days, while the left-wing alliance that won the most seats is struggling to agree on a replacement proposal.
Meanwhile, Russia’s war in Ukraine threatens Europe’s security. In a meeting with military leaders on Saturday, Macron said France would maintain support for Ukraine and called for greater defense spending next year due to “looming threats.”
The Olympic torch relay arrived in Paris just in time.
The parade ended with the arrival of the flame, escorted by knights, 25 torchbearers and cadets dressed in the five Olympic colors forming the five interconnected Olympic rings.
The first bearer of the torch was Colonel Thibault Vallette, gold medalist in equestrian at the Rio 2016 Olympics, who handed it to a group of young athletes with a wide smile as he passed it hand in hand in front of the presidential tribune.
Typically, the parade travels from the Napoleon-era Arc de Triomphe to Place Concorde, where the last king and queen of France were beheaded.
This year, Concorde was transformed into a huge Olympic venue for breakdancing, skateboarding and BMX. Thus, the parade route headed to the Bois de Boulogne park, on the outskirts of the city.
The construction of the Olympic venue around the Eiffel Tower means spectators also cannot gather under the monument to watch the annual fireworks show.
After the Bastille Day appearance, the torch relay will pass by Notre Dame Cathedral, the historic Sorbonne University and the Louvre Museum, before heading to other Paris landmarks on Monday.
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Philippe Marion in Paris contributed.
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This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
