France replaces state of emergency with sweeping new counter-terror laws

Paris, Oct 30 (IANS) French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday signed in a new counter-terror law that is to make several exceptional measures permanent, allowing the state of emergency that the country has been in for almost two years to be lifted.

Macron said that the new law, which was widely backed by parliament and is to come into force on Wednesday, would be reviewed in two years, reports Efe.

Government spokesman Christophe Castaner said the mechanism was a temporary tool to be used under exceptional circumstances, replacing the state of emergency which France had been under since the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris that left 130 dead.

The legislation is to allow the setting up of security perimeters in any area considered to be a possible target of an attack, in which there are to be systematic controls of any person attempting to enter.

At the same time, controls are to be carried out within a 10 km radius around airports and international rail stations.

Regional leaders are also to have the power to close down any religious centre that is deemed to promote or incite terrorist acts.

Just as under the state of emergency, the government is to be able to limit the movements of people believed to have links to terrorist organisations, a measure that would currently affect 41 people, who will not be able to leave their town of residence and who will have to register daily with police.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb defended some of the new laws more controversial aspects, saying the terror threat remained very high.