France Celebrates Bastille Day Amid Security, Military Concerns
PARIS, July 14 (UPI) — France is celebrating Bastille Day on Tuesday amid security concerns in a year marred with sectarian violence and a growing military presence in Africa.
About 10,000 troops have been stationed across France to protect vulnerable sites due to insecurity and violence that began after the Charlie Hebdo and Hypercacher kosher supermarket attacks in January, where 16 people were killed by militant Islamist gunmen.
France’s military deployment throughout the country and growing presence in Africa’s Central African Republic, to assist a government established during war, and to Mali and the Sahel area, to combat militant Islamist groups, has put a strain on the military.
Troops returned to barracks once the parade concluded instead of taking part of the tradition of military personnel meeting the parade audience.
This year’s celebration was the first time that special anti-terrorism police joined the annual military parade down the Champs Elysées avenue in Paris.
Bastille Day, known is France as La Fête nationale (French National Day),commemorates the start of the French Revolution when the Bastille fortress and prison in Paris was stormed and captured by rebels in 1789.
French President Francois Hollande called for national unity ahead of Bastille Day celebrations.
“Fundamentalist terrorism has set up shop just a few hours’ flight from our homeland,” Hollande said at a reception at the Ministry of Defense on Monday. “Faced with these attacks and threats, our country must say no to division because that’s what the terrorists want and fear could be the worst poison in our national community.”
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto joined Hollande in the celebrations, where more than 150 Mexican soldiers helped lead the parade. Nieto’s government faces criticism for corruption, further escalated by the high-profile prison escape of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán.
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