France plans to extend emergency

France plans to extend a state of emergency declared after the Paris terror attacks to cover the period of the euro 2016 football tournament and the Tour de France cycle race, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said yesterday.

The measure giving the state heightened security powers was imposed following the November 13 attacks that left 130 dead and hundreds wounded in the French capital, and was already extended by three months in February, until May 26.

Valls said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve would make a proposal to the cabinet later that day, which would in turn be submitted to parliament for a vote. “The state of emergency cannot be a permanent state, but for these major events ... we need to have these powers ...,” Valls said on French radio. The measure allows the interior minister to place under house arrest any person whose behaviour is considered “a threat to security and public order” and to order home searches without involving the court.

The euro 2016 tournament is to be held in France from June 10 to July 10, while the Tour de France is set for July 2-24.