France celebrates Bastille Day under heavy security

France celebrated Bastille Day in Paris today with a colourful military parade under tight security to ward off any possible terrorist attacks.

President Jacques Chirac kicked off the parade, standing in a rolling open 4X4 to review forces at attention along the Champs-Elysees.

Cavalry units in front and behind moved at a trot to keep up with the president for the trip that began at the Arc de Triomphe.

Some 5,000 officers were deployed in the capital to ensure security for the national celebrations. Police were ordered to show “extreme vigilance” during the festivities for the national holiday, Paris police said.

After last week’s deadly terrorist bombings in London, France raised its terror alert status to the second-highest level of “red,” triggering measures such as increasing the number of soldiers that protect sensitive sites including railway stations and airports.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday said France had temporarily suspended the EU’s open-border agreement for security reasons, making possible renewed passport checks at borders with European Union neighbours.

“The terrible terrorist threat requires mobilisation and vigilance at every instant,” Chirac said yesterday in an annual speech to the military on the eve of Bastille Day. “The cowardly and dramatic attacks in London just reminded us of that – cruelly.”

Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the government had taken all necessary security measures because the situation required maximum vigilance.

Protecting the parade has been a high priority since a gunman tried to shoot Chirac in a Bastille Day motorcade in 2002. The president was unhurt, and the attempted assassin was sentenced to 10 years in jail last December.

Police were stationed at intervals of several yards along the route from the Elysee Palace to the parade.

Joining Chirac on the official reviewing stand at the Place de la Concorde was Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, the guest of honour for France’s Bastille Day celebrations.