Soldiers carrying the flags of 76 countries yesterday walked down the Champs-Elysees in Paris, as France’s traditional Bastille Day military parade commemorated the centenary of World War I.
France has invited all countries that were involved on the battlefields — former allies and enemies participating altogether in yesterday’s ceremony as a symbol of peace.
“Ten million soldiers were killed or died of their injuries on countless battlefields,” French President Francois Hollande said in a message ahead of the march. “We owe them gratitude.”
Photo: AFP
Along with international guests, more than 3,700 soldiers, 50 aircraft, 280 military vehicles and 240 horses of the French national guard were to parade in Paris. At night, fireworks, exceptionally fired from the Eiffel Tower, were to be dedicated to the theme of war and peace.
The capital was the scene of another march yesterday that erupted into clashes as thousands of people protested against Israel and in support of residents in the Gaza Strip, where a six-day conflict has left 168 Palestinians dead.
Several thousand demonstrators walked calmly through the streets of Paris behind a large banner that read: “Total Support for the Struggle of the Palestinian People.”
However, clashes erupted at the end of the march on Bastille Square, with people throwing projectiles onto a cordon of police who responded with tear gas.
The unrest continued early yesterday evening as police announced six arrests had been made.
A small group tried to break into two synagogues in central Paris, a police source said.
Riot police dispersed the group, with two members of the Jewish community and six officers slightly injured in the ensuing scuffle, the source said.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls condemned the attempted synagogue stormings “in the strongest possible terms.”
“Such acts targeting places of worship are unacceptable,” he said in a statement.
“I am profoundly shocked and revolted. This aggression towards the Jewish community has taken an absolutely unacceptable turn,” Israelite Central Consistory of France president Joel Mergei said.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called for “calm in the face of tensions” in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, in Lille, between 2,300 and 6,000 people protested peacefully, according to differing figures provided by the police and organizers.
The descent into violence in the Gaza Strip began on June 12 when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and later murdered, triggering a major military crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank and an escalation of rocket fire from Gaza.
The brutal revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager by Jewish extremists on July 2 added further fuel to the fire, turning into an all-out conflict on July 8, when Israel launched an air campaign against Gaza militants.
The Palestinian death toll from Israel’s punishing air campaign is estimated at 168.
“I came to say no to this massacre,” Amid Hamadouch, 30, said at the Paris protest while it was still peaceful, with a sticker reading “Boycott Israel, Racist State” on his jacket. “They are bombing innocent people. There are missiles being launched by Hamas, but the Israeli response is disproportionate. They are attacking the civilian population and not Hamas officials.”
The crowd, very young, shouted slogans such as: “We Are All Palestinians” and “Only One Solution, End the Occupation.”
Many protesters carried banners on which they had stuck photos taken from the Internet, reportedly showing Palestinian children killed or injured, houses razed to the ground or clouds of smoke emerging from bombed districts in Gaza.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a majority of those killed in Gaza so far — 70 percent — have been civilians, of whom 30 percent were children.
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