The Telegraph
François Hollande, the French president, warned his country that it had been targeted by Islamic terrorists as he extended a state of emergency by another three months.
“A fresh atrocity has just been inflicted on France,” he said in a televised address. “It is the whole of France which is under threat from Islamic terrorism.”
Mr. Hollande had been planning to lift France’s state of emergency, which had been in force since terrorists claimed 130 lives in a wave of attacks across Paris on November 13.
Previously the French president had said that it was impossible to prolong the state of emergency, which had been in force for eight months, indefinitely.
But the atrocity in Nice, in which 80 people were killed, forced a change of strategy with Mr Hollande not only announcing a reassessment of the domestic terror threat, but also pledging to step up military activity in Syria and Iraq.
“We will maintain a high level of vigilance, the state of emergency will be maintained for three months,” Mr. Hollande said.
“Human rights are being denied by terrorists, France is clearly their target. The nature of terrorism cannot be denied. The perpetrator has been killed, we do not know whether he had any accomplices.”
Mr. Hollande said he would summon a meeting of the country’s defence committee today after which he and his prime minister, Manuel Valls, will go to Nice.
Meanwhile, Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, said extra law enforcement personnel would be deployed and that Vigipirate, France’s national security alert system, would be updated.