In pictures: Bastille Day celebrations in France

Some 4,300 soldiers, around 200 vehicles and more than 100 aircraft took part in the parade

Bastille Day commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789, one of the key events of the French Revolution. The day has become a national holiday in France.

Helicopters fly over the Champs-Elysees Avenue and the Arc de Triomphe during the traditional Bastille Day military parade in Paris: REUTERS

Alpha jets from the French Air Force Patrouille de France fly during the traditional Bastille Day: REUTERS

Some 4,300 soldiers, around 200 vehicles and more than 100 aircraft, some from other European countries, took part in the parade that was opened by Spanish troops.

Students of the Ecole Polytechnique , the special military school of Saint-Cyr, the French National gendarmerie officers school and the Navy school march during the traditional Bastille Day military parade: REUTERS

The attractions included drones, miniature autonomous vehicles, soldiers armed with anti-drone guns, and what looked like a “flying soldier” - a man swishing in the air on a flyboard, drawing cheers from the leaders and spectators.

French armoured vehicles drive down the Champs-Elysees Avenue during the traditional Bastille Day military parade: REUTERS

Soldiers from Denmark march during the traditional Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris: REUTERS

In a Bastille Day message to the French people published before the parade, Macron said he wanted to highlight France’s irrevocable commitment to consolidate French and European security.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron attend the traditional Bastille Day military parade: REUTERS

Veterans take part in the traditional Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris, France: REUTERS

“Acting together and strengthening our ability to act collectively is one of the challenges that the European Intervention Initiative, along with other key European projects, wants to address,” he added.

PHOTO: REUTERS

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated before the traditional Bastille Day fireworks display in Paris, France: REUTERS

Fireworks explode in the sky above the Eiffel Tower, in a picture taken from the Shangri-La Hotel, Paris, at the end of Bastille Day: REUTERS

PHOTO: REUTERS

PHOTO: REUTERS