>> two people killed and seven arrested in a raid targeting suspected militants. in less than seven hours in the suburb of saint-denis, with several police officers injured.

after to zip us heated debate at the french national assembly, top ministers take more questions. the opposition slamming the government for failing to prevent friday's massacre. >> hello and welcome. i am claire pryde. it has been about an hour and a half since an operation against suspected militants ended in the -- inrn peruvian suburb the northern parisian suburb of saint-denis. now there is a huge police presence in saint-denis, and local residents are being advised to stay indoors. two suspects were killed in the raid, which started at

4:30 p.m. seven people were arrested, a in the target -- including three in the targeted apartment. authorities were given indications that the suspected mastermind of friday's attacks could be in saint-denis. the interior minister also headed to the scene. from 4:00 a.m. this morning, police from the interior minister that from the interior ministry let an operation aimed at putting these terrorists out of action. arrested.le were three people died, including a woman who detonated a suicide bomb. i want to extend my congratulations for the police force is involved who acted in a courageous way throughout this

operation. they were under fire for a number of hours in conditions the likes of which they have never experienced before. claire: "france 24" luke brown is in saint-denis for us. what is the latest? . that thepite the fact police operation has come to an end, there is a large police presence here, and a number of journalists, too. the center of town itself remains under complete lockdown. we are in front of one of the ancient basilicas here. apart from those areas, much of the city is still under lockdown. means the residents themselves are struggling to get in and out of their apartments. a number of people were refuse the kind of access by

police themselves, so we are expecting the situation to return to normal, but it is too soon to say. as for the operation itself, it has come to a close, as we have been hearing from the french interior minister, indicating that 17 arrests have been -- seven arrests have been made. one of the owners of the apartment, is what we are hearing. one of the witnesses indicated that the owner was known for renting out in short-term periods the apartment to individuals who did not want to provide any identification to rent out that apartment. was the goingek rate for the apartment. as he was being taken away, he indicated to journalists that he had nothing to do with the terrorist operation, but he is rather mixed up in something that is somewhat more important than what he would be mixed up and.

claire: luke brown reporting there. now, in a moment, we will be to francois hollande, the french president speaking at a national meeting of mayors. catherine, what can you tell us about the way the french president has reacted so far? catherine: the french president is keen to be taking action now. he and his government have been some criticism from the french opposition, saying that they have not done enough, that it is action rather than words. and also criticism that they could have done more perhaps to prevent these attacks. paris saw attacks earlier this year at a coastal supermarket. the opposition center-right

party has not wasted any time, calling for national political unity to come out and attack the government, saying that they should have prevented the security lapses, the ones that allowed the attackers to strike once again. this is a meeting of all the mayors across france, all the towns. he will be addressing that and what can be done at a local level to prevent security lapses like this. we are also watching for words on a larger scale. he measures -- and the measures that he will be taking. france is a state of emergency. that gives the french state more power to arrest people and do sweeps like these raise we have seen, such as in saint-denis today, to arrest people there. it also gives the french state powers to arrest people they consider dangerous. being heldtings are

to get that pass as quickly as possible. project.ontroversial the french president wants to change the french constitution to give the french state more sweeping powers on a more permanent basis. the state of emergency laws in france as a moment date back to 1955, and the government says adapted to the modern threat of terrorism. the opposition is saying that does not matter now, that they need action, more police on the streets, and to keep terror such spects from striking. claire: they said today they have taken action. perhaps the opposition will recognize that is something. catherine: this is what the government would be hoping to say, to say that they have taken action. that we arebe words

hearing from francois hollande trying to hit back at accusations, but we could be hearing that line coming out from him later today. we are also going to be having another session of parliament in which mp's from across the political spectrum -- that was a very tough session yesterday. it got very heated. despite calls for national unity, opposition mp's saying the government let through these lapses in security, and how did that happen? they have had nine months to take action. we will be looking at francois governmentd the looking to defend themselves pretty vigorously today. we are also hearing that all 129 people killed in the have now been identified. there has been a certain amount of frustration about that difficult time for the families of those who were still waiting to hear. what had happened exactly, that will be little reassuring.

the meantime we will take you live to francois hollande in a moment. but let's move on. in the aftermath of friday's attacks, french authorities have come under fierce criticism, as we have been saying. later on, a number of members of the government will be answering more questions, like catherine was just saying, yesterday was a very heated session. for francois hollande, let's take a closer look at the operation we have seen in saint-denis. kate moody is with me now. it started around 4:00 this morning, lasted seven hours. two people killed, seven arrested. what more can you tell us? do we have any more information on those killed or arrested? : if we go back to the beginning to get a timeline for our viewers, the operation

lasted over seven hours. it began at about 4:20 this morning and was supposed to be one of these "normal raids" that police have been carrying out overnight for the past few days, going to certain houses, interrogating the people there, searching the houses. they went to question people, and they were met with quite a bit of resistance. in fact, we heard apparently gunfire coming out of that apartment. this is not something that the police were expecting when they went to take on this raid. i think we are going to stop now and listen to francois hollande. presidentollande: mr. of the association of france, mr. vice president, madam mayor , the city of light has been attacked. we are with you.

, mayors,d gentlemen through you, france has been brought together, brought together during hardship, united , resulting totion fight. the circumstances are exceptional at the moment. you, aeak here before police operation, a particularly perilous police operation has just ended. to aim of the operation was demilitarize terrorists set up terrorists with ties to the perpetrators of the attacks that occurred on friday night. diedf the terrorists during the attack. and people were arrested.

imagine the concern of the people of saint-denis. commenduld like to their levelheadedness. i would also like to express my solidarity with the mayor of saint-denis. because the attacks on friday happened in his constituency, and once again he was alongside police forces as the assault was given. and finally, i would like to express our gratitude, our forces, theor the en, the people who

launched this operation. they were aware of the danger. ingy may be underestimated the violence they are faced with, but they saw their mission through. many of them were wounded. and i am also thinking of those , police officers who went into the bataclan to attack the terrorists and to neutralize them once again. dear mayors, france is proud to be able to call on your strength and quality to protect its citizens. [applause]

francois hollande: these acts show once again that we are at war. terrorism,ar against terrorism which declared war on us. it is the daesch jihadist organization. it has an army. it has financial resources. it has oil. it has a territory. it has allies in europe. including in our country, with radicalized people. it commits atrocity there and wishes to kill here. it has killed here. night of the 13th of

november, at least 129 people lost their lives. our thoughts go to them, to these men, to these women who were cowardly killed, traumatized. our thoughts go to their families. .ho are now grieving bloodied paris and saint-denis, but they affect all of the french people, no matter where they live in the country. because it is the entire country --t was attacked, because it because of what it stands for, what it represents, its values, its fight to eradicate terrorism. and, quite simply, for what we are. s attack isrrorist

the very idea of france, what it represents, what it has been throughout the generations. for the freedom that it proclaims for the universal rights -- for the freedom that it proclaims, for the universal rights that it defends. that is what was attacked on the night of november 13. barbarians, in their violence, attacked the french people in all its diversity, without converting themselves -- without concern himself with ethnicity, with religion. it was the use of france that was targeted because the youth represents vitality, generosity, freedom. simply, life. the emotion is huge, and so is the anger. each and every one of us is

experiencing compassion for the victims of the attacks. action.ant to neutralize the perpetrators of these attacks and those who give the orders. terrorists isse to terrorize us, to divide us. sure to guarantee within each commune in france the unity that is our strength, the levelheadedness that is our dignity. you are elected officials of the republic. you represent the diversity of our country. and you also represent all of the causes of our country. but when faced by a terrorist

threat, we are all the same. all the regions are the same. longer political strife, there is just men and , other electedty officials who know their responsibilities for the public. that you want to show that will. before both chambers of the parliament on monday, i expressed the responses that i wish to bring to this terrorist threat which attacked us. first of all, at the international level, the syrian operations have been ramped up. an aircraft carrier has arrived. and in the is mediterranean, it

will be able to triple attack capacity. i called the international community -- i called on them to become involved in what was the -- in one must be action on daesch. on tuesday i will be going to washington, and thursday to moscow. to speak with barack obama and vladimir putin to discuss the coordination of our action that is required so that we can work and act decisively and quickly to achieve our goals. create a large coalition to decisively strike. because it is -- daesch is the issue.

unity among the international community. i know that there are differing interests between countries. they have different points of view and not the same allies. but what we need to do is annihilate an army wishes a threat to the entire world and not just some countries. this is a mission i shall undertake, and france, through its armed forces, will play a major role in the resolution of this conflict -- at a military level, and also at a diplomatic level through its policies. domestically, on the very night of the tragedy, i decided to reimplement border controls.

withhis was in compliance european commitments. decided on a state of emergency throughout the country, and i decided with the overseas ministers that this state of emergency should be applied wherever a threat is present. a bill shall be presented to the parliament this evening which extend the state of emergency over three months. this bill will also clarify this exceptional procedure. true,of emergency, it is means certain restrictions of freedom. but by using this tool, this enables us to reestablish those freedoms fully later on.

measures ande house arrests have been handed down. are with a particular goal in mind -- to identify the offices, to dismantle networks, to isolate radicalized elements within society, to put an end to smuggling, which provides money and logistic capabilities to terrorists. -- but what we mean by we must go even further. will has been waiting for years already, and it will take time to see it end. so we need patience and firmness.

decisions necessary to enable countries to join this respect ton their the rule of law and international conventions. our administration and legal structure has been reinforced since 2012. antiterrorist laws have been passed. intelligence laws have been passed. there are still lessons to be learned from the day-to-day activities of our armed services, and enabling legal institutions, enabling our tools so, creating the that no emergency situation does .ot have an answer that is what we must do. times, and four

amendment to the constitution. to need stronger reasons change such a fundamental text. frameworkrobust legal that will not let us face circumstances. this is not the transfer of civil power to military services or to four powers. we must envision all options, ,ecause in the spirit of unity i have not turned away any suggestions, even though some of them do go against our international communities. with the prime minister, i wanted the counselor of the state to be brought in on this issue and to make suggestions on what could be a useful task. the government will work closely with the parliament, make sure

of that -- and i will make sure that it finally, i decided to ramp up recruitment for the security forces, for the justice department, border controls, and 8000 new jobs will be created in these administrations, and no job will be lost in the coming years. men.means more police more police people deployed in the communes in france and better equipped and better armed . president by one suggested that we should think about all we can do to her with local authorities to improve our vigilance. state, as you know, has

international commitments. we wish to uphold these international commitments, but the state must also be able to protect itself.

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