There are guides for everything: travel, cooking, DIY, sport… and, for several years now, a guide to manifesting. Well, not really to demonstrate, but to deal with the police or the courts if you are arrested during a demonstration. At the origin of this booklet, thicker from year to year, the Judicial Uniona body which still represents 30% of French magistrates.
Since its first version, in 2005, the “Guide for arrested demonstrators” has evolved significantly, following changes in legislation and social movements. This is all the more true in recent years, notes the union, which deplores the “numerous attacks” on the right to demonstrate and the promulgation of “so-called security laws [qui] restrict the freedoms of citizens. The aim of this guide is therefore to outline “the range of situations that demonstrators may be confronted with” and to recall “the rights and duties of citizens and public authorities”.
Small papers and politeness
From around twenty pages for the previous edition, in 2019, the “Guide for the arrested protester” increased to 82 pages in 2024. In five sections, the magistrates who developed this work explain everything that can happen to you if you are dealing with law enforcement during a demonstration. It starts with the simple “control”, the “arrest”, the “offences” that you can be accused of, the passage to “immediate appearance” and the “carding”.
Each section details, with supporting articles of law, what one may be confronted with, whether the measures are legal and the remedies to which one may be entitled. There is also “advice”, when for example a police officer is aggressive during a check, if there is violence during police custody or if you are accused of acts that you do not ‘have not committed.
“Before demonstrating, carry small pieces of paper with your contact details, to distribute urgently to witnesses when the police take you away,” advises the guide. “In court, be calm and polite. Listen to your lawyer’s advice on what attitude to take and what statements to make or not to make. » The union also recalls that one can request the deletion of one’s name from the criminal record file “in the event of acquittal, acquittal or conviction with exemption from sentence”.
For five euros in print, and free online, the “Arrested Protester’s Guide” can be good reading before taking to the streets. At least to know what you have the right to do, or not!