Latest update : 2015-11-15
French President François Hollande was quick to declare a state of emergency in the wake of Friday’s bloody terror attacks in Paris. But what does the "etat d'urgence" mean for the country and its citizens as they go about their daily lives?
The state of emergency measures are set out in a 1955 law and are designed to be used in “cases of imminent danger resulting from serious breaches of public order, or in case of events threatening, by their nature and gravity, public disaster”.The measures give a number of exceptional powers to the authorities, including the right to set curfews, limit the movement of people and forbid mass gatherings, establish secure zones where people can be monitored and close public spaces such as theatres, bars, museums and other meeting places.
The state of emergency also gives more powers to investigators, such as the right to conduct house searches at any time without judicial oversight, enforce house arrest and confisate certain classes of weapons, even if people hold them legally.
A state of emergency can be put in place by the French president for a maximum of 12 days, after which he must get parliamentary approval to extend the measures. This would mean Hollande would need to get parliament's backing by November 25 to extend the measures he put in place on Friday.
The last time France declared a state of emergency was during rioting in the Paris suburbs in 2005. Parliament approved a three-month extension to the measures after they were first put into effect by then president Jacques Chirac.
A state of emergency has only been declared one other time since the end of France's 1962 war in Algeria. That was in December 1984 amid violence in New Caledonia, a French archipelago in the Pacific Ocean east of Australia.
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