The administrative court of Paris on Saturday canceled an order of the prefect of police prohibiting gatherings, judging that it violated the freedom to demonstrate, according to the order of the judge in chambers consulted by AFP.
Seized urgently by several organizations including the League of Human Rights (LDH), the Syndicate of Lawyers of France (SAF) and Solidaires, the court considered that the general ban on demonstrating in several sectors of Paris was not “neither necessary nor proportionate to the preservation of public order”.
The decree of the police prefect Laurent Nuñez concerned, published on Friday, prohibited demonstrations between Saturday at 5:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 a.m. in several sectors of Paris, close to places of power or having been in recent weeks the place of clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.
“Disproportionate bans”
It also prohibited, near and within demonstrations, the wearing of pyrotechnic devices, dangerous substances or “protective equipment intended to defeat” the maintenance of order.
The administrative court ruled these two bans disproportionate, stressing that several demonstrations declared on Saturday in Paris went smoothly.
The LDH, the SAF and the Syndicat de la magistrature accused the police headquarters of having taken “on the sly”, “without anyone being informed”, daily orders prohibiting gatherings in a large part of the center of the capital.
The one prohibiting “undeclared gatherings” between last Monday 5:00 p.m. and Tuesday 3:00 a.m. was, for example, published at 5:30 p.m.
“Why not publicize and make the decrees clearly legible if the goal is that people do not demonstrate? asked the SAF.