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 terror attacks in Paris.
The state of emergency has been extended five times since it was introduced by the government in response to the gun and bomb rampage that left 130 people dead.
The provision expires in the middlw of next month, when Macron’s new government is expected to extend it again until Nov. 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 would enshrine into law draconian powers allowed under the state of emergency.
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 terror 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 the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
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.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe argued it struck the “right balance” between respecting freedoms and reinforcing security.
“We want to guarantee security and we want to do so while respecting the law and the constitution,” he told French news channel TF1 on Wednesday.
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