the Association for the Defense of Constitutional Liberties fears that the demonstrators are “permanently filmed in a massive and systematic way”

“The orders that have been made to authorize these drones are illegal”, estimated Sunday April 30 on franceinfo Jean-Baptiste Soufron, member of Adelico (association for the defense of constitutional freedoms), lawyer at the Paris bar and former secretary general of the National Digital Council, while drones will be used in several cities to, according to the police, “secure” the May Day demonstrations. At least four interim releases have been filed against the use of drones, in particular by Adelico.

franceinfo: A first summary was rejected by the administrative court of Lyon which did not recognize the urgent nature of the appeal. Do you think it will be the same for others?

Jean-Baptiste Soufron: I do not think so. We are faced with a manifest illegality. We will have a hearing at the Council of State on the decree itself. We cannot let the police and the prefects continue to exercise their law enforcement activities without respecting the basic rules that have been set by the community.

Why is the use of drones illegal in this context?

The orders that have been taken to authorize these drones are illegal and do not guarantee the proper use of the images that will be filmed by the drones during these demonstrations. There is not enough security and compliance with security conditions have been set by the Constitutional Council and Parliament. The law (of January 24, 2022) provided that the conditions of use of drones had to be validated by decree in the Council of Ministers after prior notice from the Cnil. However, nothing happened. To date, the conditions of use of drones only exist in employment guides, of which we are not aware, which are within the ministries, and of which we leave the prefectures to write the content and arrange as they want.

What is the most problem for you, the absence of a decree or the use of these drones?

These are not the implementing decrees. We are beyond that. That’s really how drones work. This will change the way of manifesting. Until now when we demonstrate we are not permanently filmed in a massive and systematic way, but now that will be the case. If someone breaks a window, how many meters around will we record? What are we going to do with this recording? It is in the instructions which belong to the prefecture, of which no one is aware and which has not been validated either by the Council of Ministers or by the Cnil. It is not possible.

Do you think prefects have too many freedoms?

It’s exactly that. The law provided for a certain number of guarantees which are not respected today. We do not even understand how the prefects can issue these decrees. For several weeks now, the government has been condemned by the administrative courts for measures to maintain order which have systematically proved to be perfectly illegal. Trust is established by rules. It is not up to the prefects to decide alone how to use these drones.