France is currently debating new emergency powers at the request of the government in the wake of the Nice attack.
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France is currently debating new emergency powers at the request of the government in the wake of the Nice attack.
A raft of extended measures is being put before parliament over two days which includes prolonging the state of emergency for 6 months.
The National Assembly has already approved the draft bill which also reinforces certain powers for police, intelligence and other security forces. Specifically they give the police extra powers to carry out searches and to place people under house arrest.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after the Assembly vote that France will win the war against hate:
Cette guerre contre la haine et l'obscurantisme, je le promets aux Français : nous la gagnerons. #étatdurgence
— Manuel Valls (@manuelvalls) July 19, 2016
The changes must now be put before the Senate and following that, France’s Constitutional Court will give its ruling.
The state of emergency was first brought in after terror attacks in Paris in November that left 130 people dead.
Eighty-four people died last week in Nice when a lorry was driven into a crowd.
The extension agreed in the early hours of Wednesday will take the state of emergency until the end of January 2017. It is the fourth extension France’s government has proposed.
Nice promenade turns into memorial to Bastille Day attack victims https://t.co/A3×0h3ZVlw via
POLITICOEurope</a> <a href="https://t.co/uY9DT8a2td">pic.twitter.com/uY9DT8a2td</a></p>— POLITICO (politico) July 17, 2016