In a break with previous tradition the French President Nicolas Sarkozy has refused to offer mass pardons to prisoners this Bastille Day. Traditionally on this day around 3,000 or more prisoners have been granted amnesty and released.

Bastille Day is France's national holiday and is held on the 14th of July each year; it celebrates the storming of the Bastille in 1798 which heralded the start of the French revolution and the fall of the French monarchy.

Previous presidents including Jacques Chirac and Francois Mitterrand used to grant pardons to inmates convicted of more minor offences as a way of reducing France's heavily overcrowded prison population but Mr Sarkosy who is well known for his tough stance on law and order told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper "Since when has the right to pardon served as a way to manage prisons?"

At present France has 188 prisons which were built to house just over 50,000 prisoners but to date the prison population stands at more than 60,000 people. Many prison experts are worried that an absence of pardons this year could cause huge unrest amongst inmates and result in rioting. Concerns are also being voiced that Sarkosy is backing a draft law which will vigorously impose minimum prison sentences for repeat offenders, thus increasing the burden on an already overloaded prison system.

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