AUTHORITIES in France have banned or restricted demonstrations in a number of cities ahead of Saturday, 24th October, following violent disturbances during the previous weekend’s protests against the cost of living.
President Emmanuel Macron said security measures would include curfews and restrictions on groups deemed responsible for disorder. Some official demonstrations, including an authorised march in Paris, remain permitted.
The latest restrictions follow confrontations and damage to public buildings during the demonstrations on 17 October. The government says it must prevent a renewed outbreak of violence. Meanwhile, civil liberties organisations are challenging the breadth of the controls.
The measures have created fresh confrontations over the legal limits of protest policing as France moves towards its next presidential election.
Meanwhile, there are different rules across France governing demonstrations.
French prefectures can restrict public gatherings where they identify specific risks to public order. Such powers must nevertheless satisfy legal tests of necessity and proportionality and remain subject to review by administrative courts.
Macron has described a return to calm as the government’s priority and has accused organised left groups of seeking to exploit demonstrations to provoke disorder.
In Marseille, southern France, all demonstrations have been banned for Saturday, October 24, and a curfew currently in place for minors in the city centre of France’s second-largest city has been extended to adults.
The same rules were set for Lyon, Nice and Montpellier, where a protest, previously declared to the authorities, was eventually banned. In Paris, while a curfew remains in place every night until Monday morning around Place de la République and Les Halles, the Police Prefecture authorised a march from Bastille to Nation.
Following a security council meeting, President Emmanuel Macron said that ‘the general recommendation is that there should be no demonstrations in the coming days’, calling for only union-organised marches to be authorised. This statement provoked strong criticism from several civil liberties groups, including the Human Rights League (LDH).
Paris is extending a partial curfew restricting movement in parts of the city until Monday, as Marseille and Lyon impose a total ban on protests this weekend.
The Louvre, Orsay and Picasso museums in the French capital will also be closed on Saturday as more demonstrations are expected.
France is still reeling from the major disorder last weekend, when large protests against the high cost of living and school conditions were overshadowed by riots and looting that saw business and historic buildings destroyed.
Jean-Didier Berger, an Interior Ministry official, said police deployments would be increased by 20% compared to last weekend.
Police in Paris said its curfew in Place de la République, where protesters gathered last weekend, and the Les Halles shopping area will be extended until Monday.
Public transport in Marseille will be suspended on Saturday to try to prevent a repeat of the riots in the city.
Macron met intelligence services and ministers on Thursday, to prepare for the next national day of protests on Saturday.
‘The general recommendation is that there should be no demonstrations. Those who want to continue to demonstrate, when they are trade union organisations, will have alternative routes proposed by the prefectures,’ the French president announced.
‘When they’re not union organisations, wherever possible, they’ll be banned.’
These bans are a reflection of the huge crisis in France starting with its economy which is producing a crisis government.
French workers will continue to fight. Their next step must be to bring down the Macron government and go forward to a Workers Government and a nationalised and planned socialist economy!
