"From now on, any person who habitually consults Web sites that advocate terrorism or that call for hatred and violence will be criminally punished," Sarkozy said in a televised address after police shot dead an al Qaeda-inspired gunman who had killed seven people.
"France will not tolerate forced recruitment or ideological indoctrination on its soil," Sarkozy said, adding that an enquiry would be launched into whether prisons were being used to propagate extremism in France.
He said authorities were investigating whether Mohamed Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian origin, acted alone in the shootings of three Jewish children and four adults in southwest France.
Merah died on Wednesday in a hail of bullets when he jumped from a window after elite police commandos entered the apartment where he was holed up following a seige of more than 30 hours.
Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012
Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.