Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, followed by the Jewish state’s response in the Gaza Strip, numerous demonstrations in support of Palestine have been banned in France. On Wednesday October 18, the Council of State recalled that it was up to the prefects to assess “on a case-by-case basis” whether the risk of disturbances to public order justified a ban on these demonstrations.
Almost all pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, sent a message, Thursday, October 12, to the attention of all prefects, specifying: “Pro-Palestinian demonstrations, because they are likely to generate unrest in the public order, must be prohibited. » Already the day before, a ban on demonstrations in support of Palestine, at Place de la République in Paris, had been decided by the Paris police headquarters.
Despite these bans, gatherings did take place in Paris, Rennes, Lille and other cities. Dispersed by the police, using water cannons and tear gas, these mobilizations gave rise to a few dozen fines and arrests in the country.
Only one gathering in support of Palestine was not banned: at the initiative of the Girondin Collective for a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis, around a hundred demonstrators were able to mobilize in Bordeaux, Thursday October 12.
No. Germany also quickly chose to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations since October 11. However, a permitted rally took place peacefully in Düsseldorf on October 14. Germany and France are exceptions in Europe since in London, Geneva, Copenhagen and other major European cities, pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place completely legally.
In France, this choice to ban demonstrations has exasperated a certain number of elected officials, often from the Nupes group. MP Elsa Faucillon (Democratic and Republican Left), said on X (formerly Twitter), that these bans on demonstrations “for a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis” were “a shame”. At the Council of Europe on October 11, MP Emmanuel Fernandes (La France insoumise) declared that in “France, the freedom to demonstrate is repressed.”
Even the head of Italian diplomacy, Antonio Tajani, was critical of this choice made by France, declaring on October 15: “To ban demonstrations in a democratic country when they are not violent demonstrations doesn’t seem fair to me. »
The freedom to demonstrate, resulting from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, has been enshrined in French law since 1935. “A general ban on demonstration is unacceptable. Such a decision goes against the freedom to demonstrate. It’s very problematic,” Nathalie Tehio, member of the national office of the Human Rights League, told Le Monde. The lawyer believes that France, “as a member state of the Council of Europe”, should comply with Article 11 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and “the positive obligation to protect freedom of peaceful assembly.” A text which orders signatory countries to protect this freedom.
Despite these main principles, the State can still prohibit demonstrations. “There must be a sufficient risk of disturbance and the State must demonstrate that it does not have the means to supervise an assembly. This is why bans must be managed on a case-by-case and local basis. The situations vary depending on the location,” explains Nathalie Tehio.
It was because he did not have the power to ban all demonstrations a priori that the Minister of the Interior asked the prefects to take charge, each at their local level. It is this circumvention which is at the origin of the appeal filed with the Council of State by the Palestine Action Committee.
Regarding demonstrations in support of Palestine, this is not the first time that banning orders have been issued by prefectures. In 2014 and 2021, several gatherings were banned in France “for the risk of disturbing public order”. But the Palestinian cause is not the only one for which demonstrations have been banned in recent years. “We are more alert, we have attacked more [at the LDH], reported Nathalie Tehio. It is therefore estimated that there have been more bans on demonstrations in recent times and especially since the pension reform. »
As early as March, demonstrations against the mega-basin construction project in Sainte-Soline had been banned by the Deux-Sèvres prefecture. Dozens of prohibition orders followed during the pension reform period between April and June. Even the march in memory of Adama Traoré in July was banned, due to the context of the riots following the death of Nahel M., in Nanterre.
