Following last week's truck attack in Nice, France’s National Assembly is expected to extend the state of emergency governed by a rule that gives police greater search-and-arrest powers, without advance clearance from judges.
French President Francois Hollande said ahead of Tuesday evening's parliamentary debate that his "responsibility" in the wake of Nice attack was “to extend by three months the state of emergency," due to expire on July 26, adding that he was open to extending it to six months as requested by several center-right opposition leaders, the presidential palace announced in a statement.
The move came as Nice's seafront boulevard, the Promenade des Anglais, reopened after Thursday's attack by a French-Tunisian, 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who drove through crowds celebrating Bastille Day, killing 84 people, before being shot dead by police.
Several dozen people were injured and 19 people remain on life support five days after the attack that the French general prosecutor, Francois Molins, labeled a terrorist strike by a man who had expressed interest in extremist Islam.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, although there is no hard evidence linking Bouhlel to the group. Molins said Monday that the slain attacker had shown support for the Islamic State group and searched online for information about the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
France imposed emergency rule after the November 13 attacks carried by Islamist militants that claimed the lives of 130 people in Paris and left scores of other wounded.
