“The state of emergency imposed in France after the Paris attacks must be extended to protect elections next year,” bbc.com reports. “PM Bernard Cazeneuve said he was seeking the extension until 15 July, covering presidential and parliamentary polls from April to June, and Bastille Day on 14 July. Parliament is expected to approve the measure on Tuesday. It will be the fifth extension of the emergency powers introduced after the attacks on 13 November last year.”
You may remember the attacks that inspired the diminution of French citizens’ civil rights. “Islamist extremists killed 130 people and wounded hundreds in gun and bomb attacks on public places in and around Paris,” Auntie Beeb reminds us. “The deadliest assault was at the Bataclan concert hall, where 90 people were killed. The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.”
At no point does the BBC report mention that not a single audience member inside the fatal Eagles of Death Metal concert was armed in their individual or communal defense. Nor do they highlight the fact French police left the victims at the terrorists’ mercy — which was in decidedly short supply — for three hours and forty-minutes, from 9:40pm to 12:20.
According to wikipedia.org, under the state of emergency, French authorities can launch “administrative searches and seizures without judiciary oversight and censor the press, radio, films and theater representations.” They can also issue “a decree requiring citizens to relinquish legally-owned weapons.” Not that les Français enjoy anything resembling carry rights . . .
Since the attacks, French police have raided more than 3600 homes, arresting and detaining some 400 people. An undetermined number of people have been placed on house arrest. This is what happens to a disarmed populace.