PARIS, April 2 (Xinhuanet) -- France is tightening security for British Queen Elizabeth II's 3-day state visit to France starting next Monday to mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale.

    The Entente Cordiale, or "friendly understanding," is a document signed in London on April 8, 1904, which marked the startof an unprecedented era of friendship and military alliance between the two countries.

    Accompanied by her husband Prince Philip, the Queen will arrivein Paris by Eurostar train through the Channel tunnel and is due to be greeted by President Jacques Chirac on the Avenue des ChampsElysees.

    Tightened security is prepared for the queen's procession in Paris and in Southern French Toulouse, where Elizabeth II will visit the 13th-century Convent of the Jacobinson and the factory of the Group Airbus on Wednesday.

    Some hundreds of policemen will be deployed and traffic will betemporarily suspended on the Avenue des Champs Elysees where the Queen will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldiers at theArc de Triomphe on Monday afternoon, said the police office in Paris Friday.

    The police of Paris assured they would disturb passengers as little as possible and impose the least restriction on those who will see the Queen. But the security check on person and their bags is necessary, a police source added.

    A special information device will be set to announce the brief walks planned by the Queen, who wanted to be close to the public.

    Passengers will be allowed to stand outside the barrier, where they can admire the Queen escorted by the French cavalry of republican guards. Enditem