2023-07-14 08:49:47
France greets Friday Her National Day is July 14th A military parade of various army divisions, amid strict security measures. This year, India will be the guest of honor at the traditional military parade.
On Friday morning, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as guest of honor, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, will attend the military parade on the Champs-Elysées.
Paris and New Delhi celebrate this year the 25th anniversary of their strategic partnership, which France aspires to strengthen in order to have weight in the Asia-Pacific region, although India faces accusations from non-governmental organizations of adopting an authoritarian tendency.
And Napoleon Bonaparte created the Legion of Honor in 1802, which includes five ranks, from Knight to Grand Cross.
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Security reinforcements
These celebrations take place in a tense security atmosphere. At the end of June, the killing of a boy, Nael, by a policeman during a traffic check, caused several nights of rioting and great damage.
And the government deployed reinforcements in an attempt to contain the traditional events that take place during the celebrations, as it mobilized from Thursday evening until Saturday evening regarding 45 thousand policemen, gendarmes, elite units and armored vehicles.
In Paris, regarding ten thousand policemen and gendarmes will be deployed in the capital and its surrounding districts.
This year’s festivities will include 6,500 participants, including 5,100 on foot. More than 60 aircraft, including foreign planes, 28 helicopters, 157 vehicles and 62 motorcycles, accompanied by 200 horses from the Republican Guard, will participate in the parade on the Champs-Elysées.
And the French President announced Thursday evening that in 2024, the year of the Summer Olympics in France, the parade will be exceptional.
India .. guest of honor on the French National Day
The parade will be opened by 240 members of the Indian armed forces, and the air show will include three Indian Rafale aircraft, as announced by the Elysee Palace.
“strategic solidarity”
As war has returned to Europe since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, one of the aims of this parade will be to “remind France’s adherence to” strategic solidarity with its allies,” according to what the military governor of Paris, General Christophe Abad, said.
12 countries that helped France during a decade of military deployment in the Sahel will be highlighted: Canada and the Europeans.
Six partner African military colleges (Benin, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Madagascar, Côte d’Azur and Senegal) will participate in the parade with veterans of French military institutes.
To embody French military assistance to Ukraine, Caesar guns and AMX10-RC armored vehicles, of the type delivered to Kiev, will be shown.
On the other hand, this aims to embody the increase in the armies’ budget, while Parliament finally approved Thursday a new law for military programming worth 413 billion euros by 2030, an increase of 40% compared to previous programming.
Macron said Thursday that this law “is what our armies need.”
On Friday, the light armored vehicle Serval will be shown for the first time, as will the new “H160” helicopter manufactured by Airbus Helicopters.
Extensive security deployment
The theme of the parade will be the “moral forces” of France. The operational reserve, which will double by 2030 to 80,000 volunteers, will be honored.
A party will be held at the Place de la Concorde with young men, reservists and members of the National Comprehensive Service and the Civil Service celebrating the spirit of resistance by commemorating 1943, the year of the creation of the Order of the French Resistance, the National Council of Resistance and the death of resistance hero Jean Moulin.
A fireworks display is held from the Eiffel Tower in the capital in the evening, as is customary. A symphony concert will also be held in the Champs-de-Mars park, performed by the French National Orchestra, and centered on the theme of brotherhood.
France 24/AFP
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