Amnesty International representative Dominique Curis recalled that the French government had offered to adopt a new anti-terror law, which they said was a condition for putting an end to the state of emergency.
"But yesterday, the [French] Interior Minister declared that, if necessary, the state of emergency may be introduced once again. As we see, the government's understanding of a state of emergency's goals is contradictory and inconsistent," Curis said.
"Car and personal searches are carried out even before the entrance to an event. However, this only 'pushes back' the problem instead of resolving it," Marion said.
He criticized a number of relevant French laws which "deprived the police of the possibility of initiating a search or inspection."
Does Macron's new anti-terror law lock France in a permanent state of emergency? https://t.co/IvmPvMmoP6 pic.twitter.com/gDEdbOZ04V
— dwnews (@dwnews) 1 ноября 2017 г.
"Currently, you need to go to court or obtain an administrative order to check documents or to inspect a car. Previously, it was in the competence of the administrative police, while now judicial control comes first," Marion added.
According to him," behind the new law is a desire to return the supremacy of the executive rather than judicial power."
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Marion explained that due to the fact that a terrorist threat in France was not as topical as it is today, some provisions were abolished for the sake of individual freedom; these included the "encroachment on state security" policy as well as the possibility of forced searches and preliminary investigations.
France has passed a new anti- terror law authorizing closure of mosques if preachers there are found to be promoting radical ideology.
— ajith (@vakilatlarge) 6 ноября 2017 г.
"Since the authorities want to put an end to the state of emergency, which cannot last indefinitely, the administrative power has started to show signs of strengthening [in France]," he said, adding that police lack the authority to ensure security.
"And who is to blame for this now? There is a perennial problem of balance between the compulsory measures necessary to ensure security and the protection of individual freedoms," Marion concluded.
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France has been in a state of emergency since November 2015 following terror attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis that left 130 people killed.
Since then, the country has been targeted by 20 terror attacks — the deadliest one claiming over 80 lives in Nice in 2016 — and numerous attacks on members of the police and the military.
