Emergency powers imposed in the wake of the Paris attacks are causing increasing concern among civil liberties groups in France, as the government prepares legislation to extend the measures for six months. Within hours of the attacks that killed 130 people on Nov. 13, President Francois Hollande introduced a 12-day state of emergency that gave police extrajudicial powers to search homes, detain suspects and block websites. Parliament later extended the powers for a further three months. The government is now planning to submit bills to allow the emergency powers time limit to be enhanced for up to six months, Le Monde newspaper reported, citing government papers. The bills propose giving greater authority to intelligence agencies and extending control over the Internet, including blocking free and shared wi-fi and virtual private networks, which are more difficult to monitor. Activists warn the plans would move France further away from the rule of law and give excessive power to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. "The French government is trying to give the impression of having a grasp on the situation by implementing certain laws that could perhaps not be passed in a normal situation," Adrienne Charmet, a spokeswoman for online rights group La Quadrature du Net, told Anadolu Agency. "What is very disturbing and problematic is the fact that the government considers the normal rule of law does not allow it to manage the situation and ensure public safety. "The interconnection of personal files between different public administrations, also planned as part of the new emergency plan, very heavily violates the right of privacy. It completely destroys the whole apparatus of the protection of citizens' privacy." A recent wave of arrests in the run-up to and during the UN climate change summit in Paris has also raised fears police are abusing the state of emergency by applying it to a wider range of protests and activism. Demonstrations were banned and more than 200 people arrested under emergency powers - an application of the law described as "arbitrary" by Charmet - and at least 24 French environmental activists were placed under preventive house arrest. "The further the state of emergency is extended and installed, the further the violation of fundamental rights is growing," Charmet said. A 'permanent' state of emergency According to Le Monde, the government is planning a "gradual exit" from the state of emergency by early next year "depending on the situation". Charmet said this indicated the emergency authority would become a "permanent condition", moving France away from the norms of a democratic society. When the powers were extended for three months in the wake of the attacks on bars and restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium, Prime Minister Manuel Valls told parliament is was the "fast response of a democracy faced with barbarism... the effective legal response in the face of an ideology of chaos." The powers allow police to carry out searches without judicial authorization, place those suspected of being "harmful to public safety and order" under house arrest and block websites deemed to glorify terrorism. Human Rights Watch said the legislation interferes with the freedoms of movement, privacy, association and expression. Last week, Valls revealed that police had conducted more than 2,000 raids since Nov. 13 and questioned more than 260 people, almost all of who were arrested. More than 300 people have been put under house arrest. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve also announced the closure of mosques and prayer rooms for the first time in a decade. Yasser Louati, a spokesman for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, said raids and arrests were being conducted "on the suspicion of suspicious behavior" and accused the government of criminalizing people for intent. "Now we see a blatant case of an authoritarian regime being implemented on us," he told independent U.S. broadcaster Democracy Now! Referring to police raids on mosques, Louati added: "The interior minister knows radicalization does not happen inside mosques... If it isn't a sense of vengeance you are applying against Muslims, then what is it? Why not respect human dignity?" France has written to the Council of Europe to request a suspension of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights as the state of emergency is "likely to necessitate exemption from some of the rights guaranteed... due to public danger that threatens the life of a nation".
