Bastille Day celebrations: Annual military parade moved due to Olympics
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00:00The parade is in full swing behind me. The atmosphere is quite festive, although serious.
00:07And we've spoken to different people who are either participating or coming to see the parade.
00:13We've spoken to lots of families who are coming to witness what they call a tradition,
00:18as well as lots of tourists who say they were honoured to see such a tradition, a French typical event, as they said.
00:26We've also spoken to a number of participants to the military parade.
00:31One of them who participated for the first year and expressed how much of an honour and pride it was for her to participate.
00:39As you might be able to see behind me, we're seeing lots of different groupings march down the Avenue de Fauche.
00:47We're seeing some ground forces, air forces, marines and even some paramedics.
00:54In total, 4,000 of them. That's a bit less decrease number from last year, for example.
01:00There were 6,500 of them, as you've mentioned.
01:04The parade has had to tone down slightly. It's toned down, but it's still going in full swing.
01:11It started here with a show of helicopters and planes.
01:14We also saw the paraders bring down some flags.
01:18The flags of the 31 countries who participated in the Normandy landings, because that's one of the main themes this year.
01:25This year represents the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landing, of D-Day and of the liberation of France.
01:32Next year, in 2025, will be the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, which is a central piece of this year's edition.
01:43As well as, obviously, the Olympics. It's the reason why the parade has been moved from the famous Champs-Élysées to Avenue Fauche.
01:50The ceremony is expected to be topped off in a few minutes with 100 soldiers coming together to form the Olympic rings.
02:01As well as a large cavalry with the chief equestrian Thibaut Vallette, who's himself an equestrian and himself an Olympian,
02:09carrying the Olympic torch all the way to the Presidential Tribune.
02:14And then, obviously, as we see it every year, we'll see the famous jets leaving a trail of the French flag, blue, white and red in the sky.