Pics by Sunil Crasto
Daijiworld Media Network

Doha, Dec 19 : Unprecedented crowds braved the morning chill and lined up along the Doha Corniche yesterday to watch the colourful parade of personnel from the country’s Armed Forces held to mark the Qatar National Day.

An equally impressive demonstration of the military units’ armoured vehicles was held simultaneously on a parallel road.

The parade, held for the sixth successive year, was rich in patriotic elements and the country’s heritage and cultural traditions.

The march-past by personnel from various units of the Qatar Armed Forces and Ministry of Interior along the over-1.6km stretch was one of the several attractions of the nearly one-hour show.

Qatar celebrated National Day 2013 by producing the world’s largest ever flag, which is 101,000 square metres in size and the length of 19 football pitches and has been verified by the Guinness World Records.

The flag unveiled near Lusail city in time for Qatari National Day. The 10-tonne flag has been named the ‘Flag of Gratitude and Loyalty’ and it has been reported that it took three planes to import the fabric needed to make it.

The 101,000sqm flag has been verified as the world’s largest by the Guinness World Records (GWR), beating the previous 79,000sqm record held by Romania since May 2012.

The rendering of traditional songs by spectators and high-pitched slogan-shouting by the parade participants presented a festive environment throughout the celebrations. Lively music by the Armed Forces’ band was in tune with the mood of the proceedings. While the spectators were left awestruck by the scintillating aerial sorties and somersaults by the Air Force’s fighter planes, the aerial show across the Doha bay by helicopters carrying the national flag provided equally memorable moments to the large number of residents who had flocked to the area early in the morning.
The fighter aircraft took turns vertically, horizontally and even flew down to come incredibly close to the military parade.

As in the rehearsal parade, there were loud cheers from the spectators every time a para-jumper made a safe landing on the specially erected platform in the Doha sea after completing their mission. The sight of them holding the national flag stood out during their spectacular aerial performances.

While weaving formations and combinations in the national colours, the para-jumpers were wildly cheered by the holiday crowd.

The para-gliders who flew down close to the march-past and a few of them landed on the sprawling lawns of the parks in the vicinity. Some of the para-jumpers also landed on the wide median lawns along the Corniche road.
It was the deafening sound of the four cannons overlooking the picturesque bay that signalled the start of the parade. At its head were immaculately dressed soldiers from the armed forces leading a cavalry parade of 300-plus horses. This was followed by a large contingent of camels, guided by well-trained native jockeys. The dog squad was also a big hit with the audience.

Among those who took part in the parade were contingents from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Internal Security Force (Lekwhiya), Civil Defence, Heritage Police, cadets of police and military training centres, students belonging to schools, Shafallah Centre for Children with Special Needs and Al-Noor Institute for the Blind and children dressed in Emiri Guard uniforms.

The vehicular procession featured a large number of all-season battle tanks, armoured personnel carriers, rocket launchers, mine detectors, anti-aircraft guns, propellers, infantry vehicles, surveillance equipment, fire extinguishers, patrolling vessels of the Coast Guards, anti-pirate frigates, interceptors, monitoring and communication vehicles in the use of the military, Lekwhiya, Al Fazaa and other departments.

In addition, vehicles belonging to Hamad Medical Corporation and a number of dhows took part in the parade.

The turnout at the Corniche yesterday was much larger than in any of the earlier editions and endless queues of vehicles could be seen on all roads in the neighbourhood. Mowasalat ferried spectators from some of the parking grounds in Al Bidda and Arumeila and their immediate surroundings.