France extends state of emergency for three months

On Thursday, France’s lower house of parliament almost unanimously voted to extend the country’s current state of emergency by three months.

Valls spoke of the risk of a chemical attack amid debate on a sweeping law to extend a state of emergency that would give police significant new powers to conduct searches and detain suspects.

French prime minister Manuel Valls has said that members of the terrorist cell which carried out the killings took advantage of the refugee crisis to “slip in” to the country.

A further 164 people have been placed under house arrest under state of emergency powers, and 250,000 euro (£175,000) were seized.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the measure – which would affect everyone crossing the external borders of the travel-free Schengen zone – represented a “crucial” change.

But advocates for civil liberties warned against governments going too far, and suggested that European nations had to be particularly careful that the measures they were taking were not aimed at one class of citizens: Muslims. “They must be used only when strictly necessary and should not become a permanent addition to France’s anti-terror arsenal”, said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Director of Europe and Central Asia.

But that may be a tough argument to make when the memories of Friday’s terrorist attacks are still fresh. It also obliges internet service providers to install “black boxes” that collect metadata on millions of web users, and to share that information with French intelligence.

France will next Friday hold a ceremony in honour of the victims of the massacre in Paris, the presidency said.

“In doing so, Hollande called for an amendment to the French constitution in order to” allow the authorities to act… against war-level terrorism”.

Meanwhile, French authorities said a third body had been discovered in the wreckage of the flat where Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the extremist believed to be behind the Paris attacks, died in a shoot-out with police on Wednesday.

It’s unclear whether France will look to expand its surveillance apparatus in the coming weeks and months, though there are already concerns over its crackdown on jihadist websites and social media accounts. “I say it with all the precautions needed”.

The vote is expected to pass, but a few opposition lawmakers said Thursday they regretted the scope of new powers an enhanced state of emergency would allow.