The traditional July 14 military parade went off without a hitch on Friday in Paris on the Champs-Elysées in the presence of Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The final event, Place de la Concorde, celebrated 1943. That year the Resistance Medal and the National Council of the Resistance were created. It is also the year of the death of Jean Moulin.
After a passage of the nine Alpha Jets of the Patrouille de France, which colored the Parisian sky blue-white-red, the parade on foot was opened by 240 members of the Indian armed forces. Paris and New Delhi are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their strategic partnership this year, which France aims to strengthen in order to weigh in the Asia-Pacific zone, although India is accused by non-governmental organizations of authoritarian drift. French ecologists and human rights associations strongly criticized this visit. Since Mr. Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP – “Indian People’s Party”), came to power in 2014, India “has been steadily regressing in its fight against poverty, against inequalities, as well as in terms of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” they denounced in a press release. This invitation constitutes “a sad symbol”, pointed out Amnesty International France, denouncing “the persecution of religious, ethnic and gender minorities with complete impunity”, “the restriction of civic space (criminalization of the right to demonstrate, harassment, illegal surveillance, detentions of human rights defenders, opponents, students and journalists (…)” or “attacks against civil society organizations”.
The presence in Paris of Mr. Modi is an opportunity to discuss the terms of purchase of 26 new Dassault Aviation Rafales in navy version for the Indian aircraft carrier, as well as three submarines, an acquisition to which New Delhi gave its approval in principle on Thursday. While India launched its rocket in the direction of the Moon this same Friday, the two countries also unveiled several cooperation agreements in the space field, including the establishment of a joint satellite maritime surveillance system and the start of construction of the Franco-Indian thermal infrared satellite Trishna.
MM. Macron and Modi were due to meet at the Elysee Palace at 5:05 p.m. before an official dinner at the Louvre Museum. The Indian Prime Minister was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, the highest French distinction.
Increase in the budget of the armies
The festivities of July 14 are held under close surveillance, after the death on June 27 of Nahel M., killed by a policeman, and the riots that followed. The government has deployed major means to try to contain the traditional incidents of the July 14 festivities, mobilizing from Thursday evening to Saturday evening some 45,000 police and gendarmes, elite units and armored vehicles. In Paris, around 10,000 members of the police were hard at work. The night from Thursday to Friday was however “relatively calm overall for July 13”, assured the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.
To embody French military aid to Ukraine, Caesar guns and AMX10-RC armored vehicles, of the type sold in kyiv, paraded in front of the Parisians.
This demonstration was also intended to embody the increase in the budget of the armies, while the Parliament definitively adopted Thursday a new law of military programming (LPM) of an envelope of 413 billion euros by 2030, an increase of 40% compared to the previous LPM. This LPM “is the one our armies need”, welcomed Mr. Macron on Thursday.
