(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) PARIS, July 20 (KUNA) -- The French National Assembly, or lower house of Parliament, in an overnight session, voted early Wednesday to extend a reinforced State of Emergency six months to counter the terrorist threat in light of the attack last Thursday in Nice, claimed by the so-called Islamic State (IS).
Before the Nice attack, the government had originally intended to cancel an existing State of Emergency on July 26 but has been obliged, instead, to reinforce the security powers available to police, intelligence services and the judiciary.
The National Assembly approved the extension of emergency powers for six months by a large majority, with 489 votes for and 26 against, while 62 deputies were absent or didn't vote.
The French Senate will now debate and vote on the extension later on Wednesday and is expected to pass the measure without major opposition.
Presenting the draft text, Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls recalled the latest "massacre" in Nice, where 84 died and 308 were injured when a Tunisian national rammed his 19-ton truck on July 14 into pedestrians in the holiday resort town.
IS claimed the attack and said the operation was carried out by one of its "soldiers" but this claim still remains to be clearly established, according to the Interior Ministry.
Valls said that the government is renewing the State of Emergency for the fourth time since its application in November 2015, when another terror attack claimed by IS killed 130 people and wounded over 400 in and around Paris.
The new special powers have been reinforced to allow tougher searches and follow-up searches, without warrant, and the exploitation of data on computers and phones found on the sites of police searches.
The Prime Minister revealed, in his speech, that France had registered 2,147 individuals with links to Iraqi or Syrian "foreign fighter" networks and security services had the names of 898 people who were believed to be seeking to go to fight in those conflicts.
At this stage, Valls said that 1,000 French nationals or residents here had gone to Iraq or Syria to take part in the conflict and 680 were still in those areas.
"One third of these are women," he told the National Assembly, and "there are actually 420 minors, 18 of whom are combatants." The head of government remarked that 187 people from France had died in the fighting in Iraq and Syria in the past five years.
Valls urged unity in the National Assembly in the face of "the greatest threat ever" to France, a threat which is "extremely high" now, as France has become the number one target of so-called Islamic State.
The State of Emergency also allows for arbitrary detention and the placing of detainees under house arrest.
Since the November attacks last year, France has placed almost 500 people under house arrest over the past nine months and 77 individuals are still held under that statute today, Valls indicated.
Over 3,500 searches have also been carried out in the same period and 600 cases have been brought against persons in that respect. Police and security services have seized 756 weapons, among them 75 of military calibre.
He further added that 285 suspects had been charged with terrorism crimes and another 264 were in detention pending charges, while 58 people have already been condemned for terrorist activities.
Moreover, Valls revealed, 80 people had been expelled from France for activities incompatible with their status here. This includes around 15 radical Imams who were preaching violence, parliamentary sources said.
He said that 10 Mosques or prayer halls known for radical and extremist activities had been closed and 28,000 people had been refused entry to France since November as they were viewed as a risk.
France currently has 10,000 troops mobilised to support the police and Gendarmes on anti-terrorist duties and the government intends to call up 9,000 reservists to further bolster security.
Since 2012, Valls pointed out, French security services have foiled 16 terror plots here, among them a plan to carry out a bomb attack against the Euro '16 soccer tournament in France this summer. (End) jk.tg