France celebrates Bastille Day Tuesday with a grand military parade down Paris's majestic Champs Elysees, joined by a detachment of Indian troops. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the guest of honour this year. France celebrates Bastille Day Tuesday with a massive military parade down Paris's majestic Champs Elysee followed by concerts, fireworks and garden parties as the country marks the 1789 storming of the infamous Bastille prison that marked the start of the French Revolution. The main feature of the day is a huge military parade involving 5,000 men, about 300 military vehicles, 83 motorbikes, 280 horses, 68 planes and 37 helicopters, according to French officials. The parade moves down the Champs Elysees, from the capital's landmark Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde. Security is tight across Paris, with nearly 10,000 policemen and gendarmes spread around the city's landmark sites, including the Eiffel Tower, where French rock hero Johnny Halliday will perform at a public concert later Tuesday.
France celebrates Bastille Day Tuesday with a massive military parade down Paris's majestic Champs Elysee followed by concerts, fireworks and garden parties as the country marks the 1789 storming of the infamous Bastille prison that marked the start of the French Revolution.
The main feature of the day is a huge military parade involving 5,000 men, about 300 military vehicles, 83 motorbikes, 280 horses, 68 planes and 37 helicopters, according to French officials. The parade moves down the Champs Elysees, from the capital's landmark Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde.
Security is tight across Paris, with nearly 10,000 policemen and gendarmes spread around the city's landmark sites, including the Eiffel Tower, where French rock hero Johnny Halliday will perform at a public concert later Tuesday.
The night ahead of France's national day was marked by widespread vandalism as 317 cars were burned across the country, a slight increase over the same period last year, according to the police. AFP - French youths burned 317 cars and wounded 13 police officers overnight during the now traditional bout of street violence on the eve of the Bastille Day national holiday, police said Tuesday. As French troops and their guests of honour from the Indian army made last minute preparations for the July 14 parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris, the suburbs of major cities were contemplating another clean-up operation. By 6:00 am (0400 GMT), police headquarters in Paris had recorded 317 burnt out cars -- up 6.7 percent on 2008 -- and 240 arrests, almost double the total for the same period last year. These numbers were expected to increase as fresh reports came in.
AFP - French youths burned 317 cars and wounded 13 police officers overnight during the now traditional bout of street violence on the eve of the Bastille Day national holiday, police said Tuesday. As French troops and their guests of honour from the Indian army made last minute preparations for the July 14 parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris, the suburbs of major cities were contemplating another clean-up operation. By 6:00 am (0400 GMT), police headquarters in Paris had recorded 317 burnt out cars -- up 6.7 percent on 2008 -- and 240 arrests, almost double the total for the same period last year. These numbers were expected to increase as fresh reports came in.
French youths burned 317 cars and wounded 13 police officers overnight during the now traditional bout of street violence on the eve of the Bastille Day
IOW they celebrated in style. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
LOL! Perhaps, if France is so very offensive to Sikhs, the Indian PM should have declined the invitation? Yet he and all the Indians participating yesterday looked extremely happy to be in Paris. (As they should be: nice weather, they put on a fine parade, they were applauded and made welcome).
The turban, by the way, is forbidden to schoolboys in state schools, nowhere else.
(I indeed found criticisms of him on Sikh action group pages.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Secondly why it was not declined - because India does not want unnecessary problems with her elevation to UN SC where France enjoys undue influence of veto-wielding member.
But it could much better if French politicians finally woke up to reality and realized their real place in the world.
