PARIS (AP) – France’s lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a tough anti-terrorism bill yesterday that includes increasing the use of video surveillance and allowing police more time to question terror suspects.

The National Assembly voted 373-27 in favour of the bill, which still needs to clear a Senate vote in January before becoming law.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, leading efforts to strengthen France’s laws against terrorism in response to July suicide bombings in London, sought to assure lawmakers the bill would not trample on civil liberties, as some fear.

He told the National Assembly that the measures would allow police to pre-empt terror attacks and not work “after the fact.”

“This debate has paved the way for providing France with a more efficient arsenal,” he said. “The idea being that the worst should be avoided, and that we must give greater powers to law enforcement to avoid a catastrophe.”

Communist and Green party lawmakers voted against the bill, while the opposition Socialist Party abstained after pushing through several amendments to the original text.

Communist lawmaker Michel Vaxes said he considered the law “dangerous for democracy.”

“Terrorists will adapt to it very quickly,” Vaxes said.

The bill would allow mosques, department stores and other potential targets to install surveillance cameras, and would stiffen prison terms for terrorists and those providing support.

It also would enable police to monitor people who travel to countries known to harbour terror training camps, and to extend the detention period for terror suspects from four days to up to six days.

France already has some of Europe’s toughest anti-terrorism laws, enacted after a wave of deadly attacks in the 1990s by Algerian Islamic militants. But officials want to fill perceived gaps laid bare by the London bombings that killed 56 people – including four suicide bombers – and improve prevention.

The bill would be the fourth addition to France’s already substantial anti-terror arsenal since 2001. Several sensitive measures contained in the law – such as those concerning identification controls – are valid for an initial three years and will be reviewed by parliament in 2008.