France presents new security bill amid extremist threats
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron’s new government presented a security bill Thursday to beef up police powers amid extremist threats to Europe.
Macron insists the bill discussed at a Cabinet meeting won’t infringe on freedoms, but rights groups fear France is heading for a permanent state of emergency.
His government is seeking to extend France’s existing state of emergency through Nov. 1, the time it will take the new security bill to pass through parliament. The current expiration date for the state of emergency is July 15. It would be the sixth extension of the measure since deadly attacks by extremists in Paris in November 2015.
The move Thursday comes days after an attacker drove a car carrying explosives into a police convoy on Paris’ busy Champs-Elysees avenue, the latest of several small-scale attacks on European cities.