Extra security measures in place since Paris attacks extended after truck driver ploughed through crowd in Nice on Bastille Day

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

France’s national assembly has voted to extend the country’s state of emergency for six months following last week’s massacre in Nice.



The state of emergency has been in place since the Paris attacks in November, and the extension would see the emergency security measures – which give the police extra powers to carry out searches and place people under house arrest – remain in place until the end of January 2017.

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It is the fourth time that parliament has proposed prolonging the state of emergency, and the move now needs to be approved by the Senate.

President Francois Hollande had last Thursday announced a plan to lift the emergency measures, but he changed tack hours later after a truck driver ploughed through a crowd at a 14 July fireworks display in Nice, killing 84 people. The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State group.

Hollande’s Socialist government has been under heavy criticism for its response to a slew of extremist attacks.

The fact the president was open to the six-month extension was seen as a concession to the conservative opposition who have demanded that the state of emergency be maintained through to the end of the year.

With elections due next year, the political unity seen after last year’s attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has evaporated.

Bernard Cazeneuve, the interior minister, has defended the government, saying it has bolstered security notably by sending thousands of troops into the streets.

Prime minister Manuel Valls warned on Tuesday that the country must be prepared for more deadly attacks and would have to “learn to live with the threat”.

But the Socialists have also said they will draw the line at some of the opposition’s more controversial demands.

Opposition leader and former president Nicolas Sarkozy, eyeing another run for the top job next year, has called for anyone showing signs of being radicalised to be forced to wear an electronic tag, placed under house arrest or kept in a detention centre.

While some on the right think the six-month extension is not sufficient, there are also critics on the left concerned about civil liberties who say even with the state of emergency in place an attack occurred.

“We can’t lock people up on the basis of mere suspicion, or suspicion of suspicion,” minister for parliamentary relations Jean-Marie Le Guen said.

Investigators said on Tuesday that 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who used a 19-tonne truck to mow down revellers enjoying Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, had shown “recent interest” in jihadist activity.

Authorities found “very violent” photos on his computer, including of corpses, fighters posing with the IS flag and photos of Osama bin Laden.

However, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said there was no direct evidence of the Tunisian’s links to IS which has claimed him as one of their “fighters.”