Seized by the controversial comedian Dieudonné, the administrative court (TA) of Strasbourg authorized, Friday October 27, the holding of his show scheduled for the same evening, while the Haut-Rhin prefecture had chosen to ban it.
Prefect Thierry Queffélec had argued, in his decree, the “numerous criminal convictions [of Dieudonné] for having made negationist speeches and inciting racial hatred” and “a local context particularly sensitive to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its consequences on the ‘public order’, according to a press release released Thursday by the prefecture.
The 57-year-old comedian had announced on his website the holding of a performance entitled Sous bracelet: an extraordinary show, in Mulhouse on Friday, in an undisclosed location which was to be revealed to ticket holders a few hours later. advance.
“By deciding to ban the performance of [Dieudonné] M’Bala M’Bala, while no particular circumstances allow the alleged risk of disturbing public order to be taken as established, the prefect of Haut-Rhin brought a serious and manifestly illegal attack on freedom of expression” and “of assembly”, says the TA in the judgment sent to Agence France-Presse by the comedian’s entourage.
No “confrontations” in previous shows
Dieudonné’s show was performed in several cities in recent weeks without “giving rise to clashes”, notes the TA. Furthermore, the court considers that “no element allows us to consider” that it “would, in itself, be likely to favor the importation onto French soil of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nor that it would be opportunity for the person concerned to make remarks “constituting an apology for terrorism”.
“The execution of the decree of October 25, 2023 by which the prefect (…) prohibited, throughout the territory of Haut-Rhin, the performance of the show (…) planned” Friday in Mulhouse “is suspended”, concludes the court.
In September, a Dieudonné show planned at the Zénith in Paris, La Cage aux fous, was banned by the police prefect due to “risk of serious disturbances to public order” in view of his repeated anti-Semitic remarks. This Parisian ban was added to those taken during the summer, notably in Lyon, Grenoble, Montpellier and Toulouse, where Dieudonné was to present this show with the anti-vax singer Francis Lalanne.
