Security tight for Bastille Day

JACQUES CHIRAC officiated at the traditional July 14 military parade in central Paris yesterday, on what is almost certainly his last Bastille Day as president.

Accompanied by the chief of staff of the armed forces, Mr Chirac was driven down the Champs Élysées in an open-top military vehicle before reviewing the fly-past and march-past from a stand on the Place de la Concorde.

A squadron of nine Alphajets laying a trail of red, white and blue smoke was followed by more than 50 other aircraft, while on the ground 3,500 soldiers and gendarmes, 250 horsemen and more than 350 armoured vehicles filed past crowds of onlookers.

A detachment of Leclerc tanks took part for the first time in three years, after complaints about the damage they caused to the roadway in 2003. Some 5,000 police ensured security beefed up after the attempt on Mr Chirac’s life by a lone gunman during the parade in 2002.

Mr Chirac went on to host a lunchtime garden party at the Élysée Palace, from where he gave a live televised interview in which he drew attention to events in Lebanon. He said Israel’s actions were “totally disproportionate” but also condemned Hezbollah’s attacks.

He implicitly suggested that Syria and Iran might be playing a role in the expanding crisis.

Mr Chirac, who is 73, has refused to rule out running for a third term in elections which are to be held in April 2007, but opinion polls show he would have virtually no chance of success.