French President Emmanuel Macron led the Bastille Day celebrations as crowds packed the streets of Paris for the annual parade.

This year’s event showcased European defence co-operation and flags of the 10 countries of the European Intervention Initiative, a joint military pact created last year, headed Sunday’s parade down the Champs Elysees.

The display included more than 4,000 armed forces, 69 planes and 39 helicopters – but the biggest crowd-pleaser was a French soldier rocketing through the air on a flyboard device, the invention of French former jet-skiing champion Franky Zapata.

France Bastille Day
A dog sported his military medals for the occasion (Kamil Zihnioglu/AP)
France Bastille Day
A soldier on a flyboard delighted the Bastille Day crowds (Michel Euler/AP)
France Bastille Day
From left, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and French President Emmanuel Macron attend the Bastille Day parade on the Champs Elysees (Kamil Zihnioglu/AP)
France Bastille Day
French marine cadets march on the Champs-Elysees (Michel Euler/AP)
France Bastille Day
Soldiers of the Foreign legion joined the parade (Michel Euler/AP)
France Bastille Day
Firefighters lined up for the celebrations (Michel Euler/AP)
France Bastille Day
Danish soldiers took part in the Bastille Day parade (Michel Euler/AP)
France Bastille Day
French Alpha jets of the Patrouille de France spray lines of smoke in the colours of the French flag over the Champs-Elysees (Michel Euler/AP)
France Bastille Day
President Emmanuel Macron stands in the command car next to French Armies Chief Staff General Francois Lecointre as they review troops before the start of the parade (Ludovic Marin/Pool/AP)
France Bastille Day
A military robot was on security duty (Kamil Zihnioglu/AP)
France Bastille Day
French troops demonstrate their skills (Kamil Zihnioglu/AP)
France Bastille Day
French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with an 89-year-old veteran who was wounded in French Indochina (Michel Euler/AP)
France Bastille Day
Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech at the French Defence Ministry on the eve of Bastille Day (Kamil Zihnioglu/Pool/AP)
France Bastille Day
Military hats at French Defence Ministry (Kamil Zihnioglu/Pool/AP)
France Fouquet’s Restaurant
Chefs Bruno Gueret and Vakhtang Meliava, of Le Fouquet’s Restaurant, which was reopening on Bastille Day after it was vandalised and set on fire during the yellow vests demonstrations in March (Kamil Zihnioglu/AP)