Saturday's Pride parade in Paris has been cancelled due to the ongoing heatwave, organizers said on Friday, citing health risks.
They said they are looking to reschedule the LGBTQ+ event for September. According to the organizers, around 500,000 people took part in last year's Pride parade.
The Paris police had previously requested that large-scale events be cancelled, warning that it would otherwise ban them.
Emergency services and health care facilities are already stretched to capacity, and the mere presence of hundreds of thousands of people would pose a risk, the police said.
To avoid placing a further strain on health services, France's Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has also recommended that local prefects should ban the sale and consumption of alcohol in public - except for outdoor areas of cafés or restaurants.
The ministry said alcohol increases health risks in hot weather. It is also advisable to restrict alcohol consumption given the high number of drowning deaths, it added.
Paris has already imposed such a ban on alcohol until Sunday morning, with large parts of France remaining under a red heat warning - the highest level.
