Francois Hollande to prolong state of emergency by three months

Paris, Jan 23: French President Francois Hollande was seeking the parliament’s approval to prolong by another three months the state of emergency declared in the wake of the deadly November 13 Paris attacks, the Elysee has said.

“The French President has announced that, given the terrorist threat, the government would present during a cabinet meeting on February 3 a bill extending the state of emergency for a period of three months,” Xinhua cited an Elysee statement as saying on Friday.

Hollande declared a state of emergency on November 14, a day after the Paris attacks, with the aim to empower police to conduct house searches without judicial warrants and arrest suspects. Five days later, lawmakers approved the government’s proposal to extend the state of emergency to three months, a term expected to expire on February 26.

In an interview with the BBC, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the state of emergency should be maintained “the time necessary… till we can get rid of Daesh (Islamic State).”

“We cannot always live all the time in a state of emergency. But, as long as the threat is there, we must use all available means,” he said. (IANS)