France will deploy around 43,000 police and troops to provide security at ceremonies marking 80 years since the World War II D-Day landings on the northern French coast, with a million people expected to attend, the interior minister said on Thursday, May 30.
In June, France marks the 80th anniversary of the 1944 Normandy landings, and 25 heads of government or state are expected to attend, including US President Joe Biden, King Charles III and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
An "exceptional force" of 43,000 police officers, gendarmes, firefighters and soldiers will be mobilized in France from June 5 to June 7 to keep order at the ceremonies, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said.
Nearly a million people are expected to attend around 30 ceremonies organized over the three days in Brittany and Normandy in northwest France. "This is the biggest commemorative event in our history," Darmanin told reporters.
The main ceremony will take place on June 6 near Omaha Beach, where 12,000 police officers and gendarmes will be deployed, he said. A mine-clearing operation involving 80 deminers including 16 divers will also be conducted.
Representatives of Russia – but not President Vladimir Putin – have been invited to attend the D-Day celebrations to "honor the importance of the commitment and sacrifices of the Soviet people," organizers said. Putin has become a virtual pariah in the West after invading Ukraine in February 2022.