France: Hundreds Of Raids And Arrests Since Paris Attacks

French police have conducted 1233 raids since declaring the state of emergency on Nov. 14 following Paris's deadly attacks, said French Interior Minster Bernard Cazeneuve on Tuesday.



Cazeneuve told French lawmakers the raids led to 165 arrests, of which 124 were placed under police custody, and the seizure of 230 weapons.



"Almost half of the 230 weapons seized were long firearms and war weapons, which reflects the effectiveness of the raids," said Cazeneuve in the weekly question-and-answer session at the National Assembly.



The Nov. 13 attacks in the French capital saw 130 killed. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged mastermind behind the attacks, was killed last week in a police raid in Paris and Salah Abdeslam, who is suspected of having participated in the killings on Nov. 13, is still at large and is the subject of a European-wide manhunt.



Shortly after the attack, President Francois Hollande declared a state of emergency and closed France's borders within hours of the attacks.



The French National Assembly and Senate voted last week to extend the state of emergency for a further three months.



Moreover, the French capital and the city of Rennes, northwestern France, were hit by several false alarms on Tuesday.



Paris's Place de la Republique was evacuated and several metro lines were partially suspended. 



In Rennes, another false alarm occurred after an anonymous caller said there was a bomb at the central town square, also called Place de la Republique.



Shortly after 2.30 p.m. (1330GMT), both alarms were called off. The Interior Ministry said "no suspicious object had been found". - Ile-de-France