French people are celebrating Bastille Day. Many large scale events are held, including the military prade in Paris as well as communal meals, dances, parties and fireworks.

What we can see now, is the fireworks display at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Earlier French military forces staged their annual parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris. The country's new Socialist President Francois Hollande led celebrations.

The parade came as France's military is facing cutbacks, while the country struggles to cut back on one of the highest levels of public spending in Western Europe to meet an EU deficit target of 3 percent of GDP next year.

Hollande was interviewed on the national television for the first time since he took office in May. He promised to reinvigorate French industry and reduce the country's debt.

Bastille Day commemorates July 14, 1789, when angry Parisian crowds stormed the Bastille prison that helped spark the French Revolution.