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Paris: In a historic address at the palace of Versailles, French President Francois Hollande has proposed to rewrite some of his country's basic laws to give him greater powers to wage war on terror.
But the push for a French "Patriot Act" has already met opposition, in a republic where liberty is a founding principle.
The measures are a reaction to Friday's terror attacks in Paris, which left nearly 130 dead and more than 350 injured.
"France is at war," the president told the rare joint sitting of parliament.
Friday's terrorist attack "represents an attack against our country, against its values, against its youth and against its way of life", he said, adding "it is not a war between civilisations, we are at war with jihadist terrorism".
The whole international community must join to destroy Daesh and eliminate the "world's biggest terrorist factory" in Syria, Mr Hollande said.
On Wednesday the French parliament will receive a bill proposing to extend the country's state of emergency for three months.
Under a state of emergency – which has been in place since the attacks on Friday – security services, police have extra powers and freedom to make arrests, search houses and confiscate weapons without judicial oversight. They can also impose house arrests: more than 100 people have already been put under house arrest, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve revealed on Monday.
The special measures were applied in more than 160 raids which took place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, in cities across the country. There were 23 arrests and 31 weapons were seized including automatic guns, ammunition, bulletproof vests, police armbands, military clothing and even a rocket launcher.
"It's just a start, these operations are going to continue, the response of the Republic will be huge, will be total," Mr Cazeneuve said. "Anyone who targets the Republic, the Republic will catch them, we will be implacable."
On Monday Mr Hollande proposed the French constitution change to create a new version of "exceptional measures", giving the government some emergency powers during a lasting crisis. It would also include powers available under martial law.
He said those powers would be more appropriate to the current "war of terrorism" where public life continues, full martial law is not needed and civil liberties could be better protected.
The law needed updating to grant powers beyond house arrests and searches, to tackle the new technological side of terror plots, he said.
French newspaper Le Monde said Mr Hollande's proposal recalled the US's Patriot Act which followed 9/11. That law gave new powers to security services to monitor citizens at home and abroad – leading to the Edward Snowden scandal.
Mr Hollande also proposed to remove French nationality from dual nationals convicted of terrorism, even if they were born in France, and expel them from the country.
He wants to put French residents who return after being involved in terrorism abroad under "draconian" surveillance measures or house arrest, or force them into de-radicalisation programs.
And he wants to create thousands of new jobs in the security forces, including 5000 new police.
Mr Hollande also invoked – for the first time – a European Union treaty clause that requires EU states to respond jointly to an act of aggression against a member state.
In a debate following the speech the proposals met some resistance – from the right, which wanted to go further, and the left, which raised civil liberties concerns.
Senator Elian Assassi, of the Communists, said the proposal "does not seem to be a calibrated response, this is not what will stop the barbaric attacks in our country".
But Mr Hollande argued that these changes would protect France's freedoms.
On Monday Paris returned to work – though the mood of the city was still subdued.
The Eiffel Tower lit up in the Tricoloure and opened again for business, but underneath the show of solidarity the flow of tourists was noticeably thinner.
Squads of rifle-wielding soldiers walked in endless patrols around major tourist landmarks, and electronic signs warned the public not to gather in large demonstrations.
At midday, the city stood to attention for a minute's silence in honour of those who died in the Friday attacks.
