National Day celebrations   ‘All set for parade display on June 29’   By Marie-Anne Lepathy |27 June 2022

The organisers of the June 29 National Day parade has said everything is ready and they are satisfied with the preparations following the last and major rehearsal along the streets of Victoria late Saturday afternoon.

There will be altogether 39 platoons of all the different forces and groups in the country as well as assets used by the police, the army and the Seychelles Fire and Rescue Services Agency (SFRSA).

The parade display will start at 5pm and all guests and members of the public should be seated or in their different positions along the designated streets by 4.30pm.

At around 3.30pm on Saturday the whole of Victoria was resounding from the drums and tunes of the brass band as well as from the different parade commands and these were amplified by the  numerous loudspeakers installed at different spots around the town area.

Gerard Lafortune, coordinator on the National Day organising committee, said at the end of the rehearsal late Saturday afternoon that a lot of preparations have been carried out at different locations during the past one and a half months or so.

He said Saturday’s major rehearsal where the different platoons came together to practice through the streets went extremely well and the committee is satisfied with how things went.

Mr Lafortune remarked that even though there was some traffic congestion after some roads were closed and traffic was diverted, this would be less evident on June 29, the day of the parade itself, as it will be a public holiday with less traffic on the streets.

“But I believe inconvenience on the road cannot be completely avoided because all the roads around Victoria are important for traffic but the police will be there to give directives,” Mr Lafortune stated.

Mr Lafortune is  calling on members of the public planning to come down for the National Day event to take all the necessary health precautions against Covid-19 which is still among us.

For those members of the public who are planning to watch the event with family and friends at home, he said all the necessary measures are also being taken to bring the event to your living rooms as more TV cameras will be placed at different intervals along the parade routes.

For her part the chief executive of the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC), Penny Belmont, said the number of young people who wanted to take part in the parade and display was overwhelming.

But some 200 of them will be taking part in the parade while another 250 are taking part in the cultural display.

She commended the good cooperation with the schools, the Ministry of Education and parents  adding that this time for budgetary and health measures in place they have focused mostly on youths from the schools in the central regions with some from the inner islands.  

“Preparations have not been easy at all due to time constraints, pupils are also preparing for exams and we had also to take into account the health measures. We are happy with the results but we could have done better if we had more time to prepare,” Ms Belmont said.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the final rehearsal on Saturday.