Biden urges US to protect democracy at key D-Day site

PARIS: President Joe Biden on Friday urged the United States to protect democracy and follow the example of World War II heroes, in a speech on a clifftop in northern France that was the scene of a bloody confrontation between US troops and occupying Germans on D-Day.

Biden gave the speech on the final day of ceremonies marking 80 years since the Allied landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944 that marked a turning point in World War II.

The president is set to face Republican rival and predecessor Donald Trump later this year in presidential elections that commentators predict will subject US democracy to a severe test.

Biden summoned up the ghosts of the heroes of the assault on the Pointe du Hoc, a clifftop promontory where German bunkers were attacked by US troops. No surviving veterans remain alive.

“They (the veterans) are summoning us”, he said, against the backdrop of the Channel.

“They ask us, what will we do? They´re not asking us to scale these cliffs. They´re asking us to stay true to what America stands for.”

Biden´s speech also came under the shadow of Russia´s invasion of Ukraine, which has left war again raging in Europe eight decades after the end of World War II.

There are also fears Trump will scale down US participation in international alliances like NATO and lessen support for Ukraine if he wins.