the prefects will assess “on a case by case basis, whether the risk of disturbances to public order justifies a ban”, acts the Council of State

The Council of State has rendered its decision. The institution rejected, on Wednesday October 18, the appeal filed against thee telegram from the Minister of the Interior concerning the ban on demonstrations in support of the Palestinian cause. In this telegram sent on October 12 by Gérald Darmanin, five days after the bloody attack perpetrated in Israel by Hamas, the instructions were given to the prefects to prohibit the “pro-Palestinian demonstrations, because they are likely to generate disturbances to public order”. An appeal was filed to request the suspension of this ban, but was therefore unsuccessful.

“It is up to the prefects to assess, on a case-by-case basis, whether the risk of disturbing public order justifies a ban”, wrote Wednesday in its decision the highest administrative court. Although it rejects the appeal filed against the text of the Minister of the Interior, the Council of State nevertheless emphasizes “its approximate writing”asserting that“no ban can be based solely on this telegram” Or “on the sole fact that the demonstration aims to support the Palestinian population”he adds in his press release.

The telegram sent by Gérald Darmanin is similar to a “prohibition in principle and absolute”which constitutes “a serious attack on freedom of expression”argued one of the two lawyers from the Palestine Action Committee, who filed the appeal. “No limitation in terms of date” is not mentioned there, nor in terms of location. “It’s a step that has never been taken” to have like this “a prohibition regime linked to an object, an object which is not even defined”added the lawyer.