France outlines tough anti-terror law

Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron’s government on Thursday set out a tough new anti-terrorism law that has already faced protests from civil rights groups.

The proposals presented to the first meeting of a reshuffled cabinet appointed on Wednesday are designed to allow the lifting of the state of emergency that has been in place since the November 2015 attacks in Paris.

The state of emergency has been extended five times since it was introduced by the then Socialist government in response to the gun and bomb rampage that left 130 people dead.

The current provision expires in mid-July, when Mr Macron’s new centrist government is expected to extend it again until November 1 while the new law is prepared.

The legislation has received the go-ahead from France’s top administrative court despite concerns from rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that it will enshrine into law draconian powers allowed under the state of emergency.

The new anti-terror law would give French authorities greater powers to act to protect an event or location thought to be at risk from attack, without first seeking permission from the courts.

Local authorities could, for example, decide to put in place a security cordon and carry out bag checks and searches using private guards without seeking approval beforehand.

The draft law would also allow places of worship thought to be promoting extremism to be shut down for up to six months.

Amnesty complained last month that French authorities were abusing anti-terrorism measures by using them to curb legitimate protests.

France has faced a string of jihadist attacks since 2015, with the threat underlined on Monday when a man rammed a car laden with guns and gas canisters into a police van on Paris’ Champs-Elysees avenue.

The driver of the car, 31year-old Adam Djaziri, died in the attack but no one else was injured. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told a press conference on Thursday that all evidence suggested Djaziri had intended the car to explode. He had mailed a letter to his family just before the attack saying he had wanted to travel to Syria.