A large fireworks show always takes place on Bastille day which celebrates the beginning of the French Revolution.

VOA: special.2009.07.05

One of Les Mis's student revolutionaries, Gavroche, takes refuge in the massive Elephant of the Bastille, the model for a never-built statue that stood in Place de la Bastille in the first half of the 19th century. (For the film, it was recreated at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, England.) Though the pachyderm is long gone, the July Column commemorating the July Revolution of 1830 now stands in its place.

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In Paris, police said some 65, 000 demonstrators had joined a march from the Place de la Bastille towards the centre of the city.

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Jubilant Hollande supporters gathered at the Place de la Bastille in Paris - a traditional rallying point of the Left - to celebrate.

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