France's Bastille Day parade takes place in the shadow of COVID-19

France marks its national day on Wednesday, July 14, after the annual military parade down the Champs-Élysées was cancelled last year due to the threat of Covid-19.

The traditional parade on France's national day returned Wednesday after a one-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

European special forces involved in anti-jihadist operations in Africa's Sahel region will get prime position in France's Bastille Day celebrations in a sign of President Emmanuel Macron's military priorities.

Around 80 French and European special forces drawn from the multinational Takuba force in the Sahel will lead the procession, a choice intended to send a diplomatic message from Paris.

Macron, who is presiding over the ceremony, is banking on often reluctant European partners to step up their commitments to Takuba. He announced plans for a drawdown of French troops in the Sahel region last month

Paris wants Takuba — which numbers only 600 troops currently, half of them French — to take over more responsibilities from the 5,100 soldiers in France's Barkhane operation, who have been battling Islamist groups in West Africa alongside local soldiers for eight years.

The parade in Paris will be a scaled-down version of the usual event, with only 10,000 people in the stands instead of 25,000.

A forecast of heavy rains might also disrupt the traditional fly-overs and military pageantry. The weather might also dampen firework shows around the country, another popular feature of Bastille Day, which marks the storming of the Bastille prison, a major event in the 1789 French Revolution.

Subdued celebration, and commemoration, in Nice

Alongside the nationwide festivities the southern Riviera town of Nice will also be marking the fifth anniversary of a terror attack that saw a man kill 86 people after driving a truck through a crowd of people watching Bastille Day fireworks.

Prime Minister Jean Castex will visit the city for a ceremony at the site of a memorial for the victims, where 86 doves are set to be released as a sign of peace. Nice authorities have organized a concert for later in the evening.

At 10:34pm, the time the truck rampage began, 86 beams of light will illuminate the Mediterranean waterfront to honor the dead.

Dozens of nationalities were among the victims that day on the Promenade des Anglais.

The assailant, who is believed to have been spurred on by jihadist propaganda, was shot dead by police after a two-kilometer rampage down the seaside promenade.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)