PREVIEW - France Invites EU Leaders To Mark Bastille Day On Sunday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2019) The French are preparing to mark the national day on Sunday, known as July 14 in France and Bastille Day abroad, with EU leaders joining the French president for the world's oldest military parade.

This year celebrates the 230th anniversary of storming of the Bastille prison in Paris, a turning point in the French revolution that set the stage for the birth of the Republic.

The notorious fortress held only a handful of prisoners when it was breached and plundered for gunpowder, but its symbolism for the monarchy could not be underestimated. It was torn down and taken apart for souvenirs.

The day is celebrated nationwide with festivals, concerts, fireworks and bals de pompiers, which are alcohol-laced parties thrown by firefighters inside fire stations to raise funds.

A huge military parade in the morning will be the high point of the day. Armed forces from France and allied countries will march, drive, ride and fly over the central Champs Elysee.

Leaders from key EU countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister Theresa May, have been invited to join President Emmanuel Macron as he addresses the troops.

Foreign troops first took part in the parade in 2007 when soldiers from 27 countries marched down the main street in a show of unity. Fourteen African nations who have had historic ties to France participated in 2010.

This year, French troops will be joined by forces of nine EU countries who signed up to its 2017 initiative to create the bloc's defense arm. German, Spanish and British planes will take part in the fly-by.

France will honor its continued commitment to the trans-Atlantic military alliance by having NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg as a guest at the parade.

The pompous event will be followed by a formal lunch of heads of state and government at the Elysee Palace. A public reception will be held in the garden outside the presidential residence.

Police and army presence will be heavy across the country after France was shocked by a deadly attack in the southern city of Nice in 2016. Eighty-six were killed and hundreds hurt when a man drove a truck through the dense crowd of revelers, in an act of terror claimed by an Islamist group.