France’s nearly two year state of emergency will soon come to an end but worried rights groups say the French public should be far more concerned about what comes next.
Seven terror plots have been foiled in France since the start of the year, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said Thursday
before French MPs voted through the final extension of the country's state of emergency.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said onSunday that the country's state of emergency, imposed after last year's Paris attacks, will likely be extended as France gears up for presidential elections.
The world's favourite bicycle event Le Tour de France is set to be policed for the first time by the elite law enforcement agents from the GIGN this year.
Six months on from the Paris terror attacks the French government has defended its response and the ongoing state of emergency saying over 100 have been arrested on terror charges.
France will not strip terrorists of their French passports and deport them after President François Hollande backed down on his attempt to make changes to the French constitution amid fierce opposition.
The understandable impact of two terror attacks and the pressure on the government to respond to an ongoing threat has seen France sacrifice its sacred founding principles, writes Ben McPartland.
The lower house of the French parliament voted on Monday in favour of enshrining in the constitution the process of declaring a
state of national emergency, although 411 MPs didn't bother turning up.
France's lawmakers began debating constitutional changes on Friday allowing for dual nationals to lose their French citizenship
in terrorism cases and enshrining in the text controversial measures put in place after the November attacks in Paris.
France's highest administrative court on Wednesday refused to lift the state of emergency imposed after the November
terror attacks, despite criticism from the country's Human Rights League about the extraordinary powers given to security services.
But a sense of creeping unease over civil liberties has turned to outright opposition in many quarters as French President Francois Hollande indicated this week he would seek to renew the measure for another three months.
President François Hollande looks set to ignore criticism from UN and rights experts and extend the country’s state of emergency beyond the deadline date for a third time.
UPDATED: After appearing to have ditched the move the French government made a last minute decision to push through a plan to strip dual nationals of the French citizenship if they are convicted of terror offences.
The French president appears to have backtracked on a flagship plan to strip dual nationals convicted of terrorism of their French citizenship even if they are born in France- a move announced in the aftermath of the November terror attacks.
As concerns grow about France's state of emergency, new reports say the French government wants to change the constitution to be able to extend the emergency measures for up to six months.
With the French PM suggesting the country's state of emergency could be extended even beyond February, a top human rights lawyer is leading the growing chorus of disapproval, telling The Local all talk of "war" plays into the hands of Isis.
