PARIS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- France on Sunday held its annual Bastille Day celebrations with a traditional military parade down the famous avenue of the Champs Elysees in Paris, with European dignitaries in attendance.
President Emmanuel Macron, France's youngest top official in its modern history, kicked off the festivities which marked the anniversary of July 14, 1789, when angry crowds stormed the Bastille prison in Paris sparking the French Revolution.
Accompanied by soldiers on horseback and flanked by motorcycle escorts, Macron stood on an open-roof military vehicle as he reviewed the troops while descending the Champs Elysees, reinforcing a message that he heads an important military power.
But, as soon as he started the traditional parade, he was booed by hundreds of "yellow vests". They shouted "Macron resigns," in a sign that the gloom in the Elysee is not over despite series of concessions.
For his third July 14 parade, the French president invited the leaders of member countries of the European Intervention Initiative (E2I), including Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Spain and Denmark, "to act together" for a rapid European intervention force which defends common strategic interests.
One marching group, waving the flags of the 10 member countries of the E2I has led the military parade, evoking the European defense cooperation.
The E2I initiative, Macron had unveiled during a speech on Europe in September 2017, shortly after taking power, aims to bring together European countries to collaborate on planning, carry out joint analyses of emerging crises and to react to them quickly.
"Never, since the end of World War II, has Europe been so important. The construction of a Europe of defense, in connection with the Atlantic alliance whose 70th anniversary we are celebrating, is a priority for France," Macron said in a statement ahead of the Bastille Day parade.
"Acting together and strengthening our capacity to act collectively: this is particularly the challenge that the European Intervention Initiative, with other essential European projects, targets to meet," he added.
In a further sign that European military links is at the heart of this year's commemoration, forces from European Rapid Reaction Corps, the Franco-German Brigade and the European Union Training Mission (EUTM), currently deployed in Mali also marched down the Champs-Elysees.
The more than two-hour parade, also saw French military forces display the army's high tech equipment such as drones and miniature autonomous vehicles
A French inventor Franky Zapata soared above the guests in the Place de la Concorde on flyboard, which, according to Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly, "can allow tests for different kinds of users, for example as a flying logistical platform, or indeed, as an assault."
The display also included flyovers by fighter jets, tanks and giant trucks mounted with land-to-air defense systems.
About 4,300 men and women from France's army, navy and air force, in addition to 196 armored vehicles, 237 horses and more than 100 jets and helicopters participated in the Europe's largest military parade.
The show ends with a tribute to wounded officers with army choirs singing military songs and the French national anthem, La Marseillaise.
By nightfall, fireworks will light the sky over the Eiffel Tower and across French cities, where large crowds are expected to take to the streets to celebrate the Bastille Day.
