IMF Paris Office Bombing, Grasse Shooting Justify State of Emergency - Hollande

French President Francois Hollande stated that a bombing at the IMF Paris office and a Grasse school shooting justified maintaining the state of emergency in France.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — French President Francois Hollande justified on Thursday maintaining the state of emergency in the country for another four months after a bombing at the IMF Paris office and a Grasse school shooting rattled France.

A parcel exploded earlier in the day at the IMF office in Paris, injuring an employee. Just hours later, a teenager opened fire at a high school in Grasse, wounding a headmaster and two students.

"All this allows me… to justify the state of emergency," Hollande said in Correze. "It is declared in certain situations due to certain risks, and I think that we must absolutely maintain it until July 15."

The state of emergency was declared after a series of near-simultaneous gun and bomb attacks in Paris and a truck ramming in Nice claimed over 200 lives last year. It is set to expire in mid-July.

A Greek anarchist group appears to be behind the bombing after they claimed sending a booby-trapped parcel to the German Finance Ministry.