Emmanuel Macron reviewed the 2020 Bastille Day military ceremony at the Place de la Concorde. France held a scaled-back national celebration there on July 14, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unlike the usual Bastille Day parade along the Champs-Élysées, the 2020 event had no large mobile column of vehicles. Instead, troops gathered in socially distanced formations at the Place de la Concorde, while aircraft took part in the traditional flypast. Macron, France’s president, reviewed the ranks from a military vehicle.
The ceremony honored military personnel, police, and civilian health workers who had worked during the pandemic. Foreign contingents also participated, including personnel from Germany, Austria, Greece, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force.
This was an unusual interruption to the normal parade format. The 2020 observance was the first major scaling-back of the Bastille Day military parade since the end of the Second World War. The event should not be confused with the ordinary Champs-Élysées parade, which returned the following year.