France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the government will extend the state of emergency, imposed after last year’s terror attacks in Paris.
In an interview with the BBC, Valls said the measures were needed to “protect our democracy.” He said there’s still a risk of “attacks of the kind we saw in Nice.”
France’s state of emergency was extended for six months in July after a lorry driver plowed through a crowd, killing 84 people in Nice on Bastille Day.
The measures give the police extra powers to carry out searches and to place people under house arrest.
However, an official inquiry found that the state of emergency was only having a “limited impact” on improving security.
Valls said the country must remain safe during the presidential and parliamentary election campaigns which are scheduled to take place in France between April and June next year.
The prime minister was speaking on the first anniversary of the Paris attacks in which 130 people died. ISIL militants claimed responsibility for the bombings and shootings across the French capital, including at the Statde de France and the Bataclan concert hall, the scene of the deadliest attack.
Three gunmen entered the venue and fired on the crowd, killing 90 people.
politico.eu
