France is at war: Hollande

A bill to extend the state of emergency by three months in the country would also be proposed, says French president


Afp November 16, 2015
French President Francois Hollande (C) delivers a speech to members of Parliament during an exceptional joint gathering of Parliament in Versailles on November 16, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

VERSAILLES, FRANCE: Speaking at a special congress of the joint upper and lower houses of parliament at the Palace of Versailles, French President Francois Hollande declared France to be at war.

"France is at war. They are the work of an extremist army fighting us because France is a country of freedom, because France is the homeland of human rights," he said. "France is not engaged in a war of civilisations because those assassins don’t represent a civilisation. Our democracy has triumphed before over adversaries that were much more formidable than these cowards."

The president announced to table a bill to extend the state of emergency by three months.

He also proposed the French constitution to be amended for crisis situations.

"The constitution must allow dual citizens to be stripped of their French citizenship and barred from the country if they are a terrorism risk," he said.

Foreigners who present a security risk must be expelled faster, he added.

COMMENTS (3)

Mirza | 8 years ago | Reply So all this time they were bombing countries in the middle east but they were not at war? And now they are declaring war but with whom? This is the key question that no one is able to answer. IS is just the latest iteration.
Allah hafiz | 8 years ago | Reply Keep an eye on pakistanis....they have a dual citizenship thing....
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ