Pan-European Bastille Day 2007

France celebrated Bastille Day for the 127th time today, with a particularly eclectic celebration, as troops from all 27 EU nations marched in the parade down the Champs-Elysees.  It is also the first Bastille Day held since Nicolas Sarkozy became president and, as a tough-on-crime rightist, refused to to issue mass prisoner pardons.

In a very nontraditional move, the day was also celebrated with a free, open-air concert headlined by French rocker Michel Polnareff.  Also headlining the event was a German pop-rock band called Tokio Hotel. (More Bastille Day stories.)