French president seeks to extend state of emergency

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS

French president Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he will ask parliament to extend the country’s state of emergency until Nov. 1 in the wake of the terror attack in Manchester.

France’s current state of emergency -- brought in after Daesh-linked terrorists killed 130 people in the Paris attacks of 2015 -- expires on July 15.

Since Tuesday, the French government also announced security reinforcements around sports and cultural events.

An Elysee statement added Macron had "asked the government to propose measures to strengthen security in the wake of the terrorist threat out of a state of emergency so that a legislative bill could be prepared in the coming weeks".

The decision followed a weekly national defense and security council meeting which "examined ways to offer any assistance possible to British authorities in their inquiry" into the Manchester bomb attack that killed at least 22 people at a pop concert on Monday, the statement read.

Speaking earlier to French broadcaster BFMTV, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the Manchester bombing "obviously shows that the level of alert is great in all our countries".

"Perhaps it is necessary to prolong the state of emergency and at the same time see the conditions to get out of it," the minister added.

France is on high alert after a series of terrorist attacks targeted the country.

The state of emergency has been extended five times since. For each extension, civil rights groups have raised concerns and urged its suspension.