French MPs extend emergency rule after Nice attack

PARIS (Reuters) – French lawmakers approved a six-month rollover of emergency rule on Wednesday in the wake of last week’s truck attack in Nice.

President FranÇois Hollande’s Socialist government is under intense pressure over security since last week’s terrorist attack, in which a Tunisian man mowed through a Bastille Day crowd, killing 84 people before he was shot dead by police.

The extension of extra search-and-arrest powers for police was approved by 489 votes to 26 shortly before dawn in France’s National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls, jeered by crowds at a remembrance ceremony on Monday and criticized by political opponents over the attack, called for national unity as he presented the emergency rule bill overnight.

“We must remain united and focused because we must be strong in the face of this threat,” he said, accusing political foes of unseemly exploitation of the tragedy before the dead have even been buried.

Christian Estrosi, head of the regional government in the area around Nice, renewed charges of serious security failings and inadequate policing. He has demanded an inquiry.

Emergency rule has been in place since attacks on Paris last November in which Islamists killed 130 people. In January 2015, 17 people were killed in attacks that began with the shooting of journalists working for Charlie Hebdo and continued at the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket.

In response to demands from the main right-wing opposition party, Les Republicains, emergency rule was extended for six months, to late January 2017, rather than the three months proposed by Hollande’s government.

The emergency regime, due to be examined by the Senate before becoming law, allows police to search homes and arrest people without prior consent from judges. It also allows them to tap computers and phones more freely.

Defending his government’s record, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told Le Monde in an interview that even with all the measures being taken, “there can never be zero risk.”

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Nice attack, although no firm evidence has yet emerged that the 31-year-old attacker had maintained direct contact with the group.