(PARIS) - Eight thousand police are to patrol the streets of Paris for its annual Bastille Day celebrations Monday, to which some 40 foreign leaders attending Sunday's Mediterranean Union summit are invited.

The police deployment is almost double that of last year, and officers have been told to exercise "extreme vigilance" for the traditional parade along the Champs Elysees, the Paris police department said.

Video cameras and bag searches will be in operation, with surveillance teams deployed on the nearby River Seine, and police have been authorised to seize any object "liable to disrupt public order."

Police sources said that some 6,000 officers would be deployed for the summit on Sunday, held to launch the Union for the Mediterranean, a flagship project of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The grouping will see the 27 countries from the European Union join states in north Africa and the Middle East, bringing leaders from Israel, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority to the same table.

All of the the heads of state and government attending the summit have been invited to join Sarkozy on Bastille Day, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who has confirmed his attendance.

Police sources said they particularly feared demonstrations and protests linked to Assad's presence.

France's Bastille Day celebrations have been held under heightened security since an attempted assault against president Jacques Chirac in 2002.

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