Paris protests over ‘massive US spying’ on French citizens

France has demanded an immediate explanation from the US following fresh allegations of “totally unacceptable” mass surveillance of French citizens by the National Security Agency.

Laurent Fabius, foreign minister, summoned the US ambassador in Paris after Le Monde newspaper reported that the NSA spied on French telecoms “in a massive way,” including accessing data on more than 70 million telephone conversations in a 30-day period this year. “This type of practice between allies that intrude on private life is totally unacceptable. We must be assured, very quickly, that in all cases they are not being used anymore,” Fabius said before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.