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PM Valls says France must ‘learn to live with’ terrorism, warning there will be more deadly attacks

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People stand in front of flowers, candles and messages laid at a makeshift memorial in Nice on Monday, in tribute to the victims of the deadly attack on the Promenade des Anglais seafront which killed 84 people. Photo: AFP

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Tuesday that the country must be prepared for more deadly attacks and will have to “learn to live with the threat”.

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His warning came after President Francois Hollande said he was willing to extend France’s state of emergency for another six months following the Bastille Day massacre in Nice in which 84 people were killed.

“Even if these words are hard to say, it’s my duty to do so: There will be other attacks and there will be other innocent people killed,” Valls told French lawmakers.

“We must not become accustomed to, but learn to live with, this threat,” the prime minister added.

Valls also said suspected Islamist extremist Reda Kriket, arrested near Paris in March with an arsenal of weapons, had “surely” been planning to target the Euro 2016 football tournament in France, which wrapped up without an attack just over a week ago.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reacts as he speaks during a debate aiming about extending the country's state of emergency for a fourth time at the French National Assembly in Paris on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reacts as he speaks during a debate aiming about extending the country's state of emergency for a fourth time at the French National Assembly in Paris on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
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Hollande had only last Thursday announced a planned lifting of the emergency security measures - which give the police extra powers to carry out searches and place people under house arrest - originally imposed after the Paris attacks that killed 130 people last November.

French MPs will now mull a fourth extension of the eight-month-old state of emergency, as criticism mounts of the Socialist government’s response to a slew of extremist attacks.

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