The Haut-Rhin prefecture had initially banned it in particular because of the “local context particularly sensitive to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. Finally, justice authorized this Friday the show by the controversial comedian Dieudonné planned in Mulhouse.
“By deciding to ban the show of [Dieudonné] M’Bala M’Bala, while no particular circumstances allow the alleged risk of disturbing public order to be taken as established, the prefect of Haut-Rhin has committed a serious and manifestly illegal attack on freedom of expression » and “meeting”, indicates the administrative court (TA) of Strasbourg, seized by Dieudonné, in the judgment transmitted by the comedian’s entourage.
Secret location
When requested, the Haut-Rhin prefecture did not react. “The execution of the decree of October 25, 2023 by which the prefect (…) prohibited, throughout the territory of Haut-Rhin, the performance of the show (…) planned” Friday in Mulhouse “is suspended”, concludes the court.
The 57-year-old comedian announced on his website the holding of a performance entitled “Under bracelet: an extraordinary show”, in Mulhouse on Friday, in an undisclosed location which was to be revealed to ticket holders a few hours in advance. In the TA’s judgment, however, an address is indicated in the Parc des Expositions in Mulhouse.
Previous shows without “confrontations”
Arguing “numerous criminal convictions for having made negationist speeches and inciting racial hatred” and “a local context particularly sensitive to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its consequences on public order”, prefect Thierry Queffélec decided, by order, to prohibit this performance, according to a press release released Thursday by the prefecture.
Dieudonné’s show has, however, been given in several cities in recent weeks without giving rise to “confrontations”, notes the TA. Furthermore, the court considers that “no element allows us to consider” that it “would, in itself, be likely to favor the importation onto French soil of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nor that it would be “opportunity for the person concerned to make remarks “constituting an apology for terrorism”.