Terror In France: PM Wants State Of Emergency Extended As ISIS Threat Remains Since Paris Attacks

RTX2TFKR — French President Francois Hollande greets members of special Police units RAID and BRI in front of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on Nov. 13, 2016. Reuters

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls is seeking another extension to the state of emergency put in place after a series of deadly terrorist attacks struck Paris a year ago, Reuters reported.

Valls told lawmakers Tuesday that France's 2017 elections and involvement in the United States-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group has made the country a target for terrorist attacks, especially those by the militant organization also known as ISIS. He said he would ask parliament for an extension of the state of emergency due to the ongoing security concerns. He did not specify the length.

"France must also be lucid about the threat," Valls said.

The state of emergency was originally imposed after ISIS militants coordinated a series of shooting and suicide bomb attacks that killed 130 in Paris on Nov. 13, 2015. The designation was scheduled to last six months but was extended this past July, when an ISIS-inspired truck driver plowed his vehicle into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice and killed 86 people.

The extra security measures provided by the state of emergency allow authorities more power to conduct searches and place suspects under house arrest. For example, France conducted dozens of raids and arrested 23 people the day after the Paris attacks, according to the New York Times.

Valls argued that the country was not ready to drop these increased security precautions yet, referencing how he was personally affected by last year's events.

"As head of government and as a French citizen I too am permanently marked by what we experienced," he told BBC News Sunday.

National security has been a major topic of debate within French politics for the last year. Polls have shown current socialist President François Hollande to be the least popular president in France's history, and he has been frequently criticized for his management of terrorist threats. France's right-wing movement, on the other hand, has experienced a surge of support.