Emmanuel Macron evokes “a period of decency” to justify the ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations

The President of the Republic spoke Thursday during an exchange with students in the street in Paris, while the Council of State left control to the prefects on this subject, considering that the government could not order a systematic ban.

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President Emmanuel Macron on the steps of the Elysée, in Paris, October 18, 2023. (XOSE BOUZAS / HANS LUCAS / AFP)

While a new pro-Palestinian demonstration is planned for the evening of Thursday October 19, Place de la République in Paris, despite the ban from the police headquarters, Emmanuel Macron justified these gathering bans. “I think there was a period of decency, there was a terrorist attack, it was not good”, he explained during an exchange with BTS students from Gagny (Seine-Saint-Denis), in the streets of the capital, which an AFP journalist witnessed. A moment also captured by the media Brut.

“I see people who want to demonstrate peacefully but there are hyper radical elements who are going to burn the flags of Israel, defend Hamas”developed the head of state. “In all the capitals where there are demonstrations, there are very harsh elements who arrive and do the worst things”added Emmanuel Macron during his exchange. “Do we want to see that now? But I think we want to get together instead”he continued.

The Council of State decided on a case by case basis

On October 12, five days after the bloody attack perpetrated in Israel by Hamas, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin instructed the prefects to ban “pro-Palestinian demonstrations, because they are likely to generate disturbances to public order”.

The Council of State challenged the government on Wednesday, arguing that pro-Palestinian demonstrations could not be systematically banned and that it was up to the prefects alone to assess whether there was a local risk of disturbances to public order.


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